


Black Pearl

by mypinkdimension



Category: Bubbline - Fandom
Genre: Adventure Time - Freeform, Candy Kingdom, F/F, Fanfiction, Land Of OOO, Love, Memory, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 10:06:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 45,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7930591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mypinkdimension/pseuds/mypinkdimension
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Sometimes, I have strange dreams about a little girl with short hair, and in each of these dreams, the two of us seem to always end up in the same place together. I can’t really tell what that place is yet, but I’m certain I’ve seen it before, so I’ll make sure to identify it soon.<br/>But the girl… there have been rare moments, split-second when I can see her in the distance, secretly watching me as if waiting for me to notice and follow her, and yet I’ve never managed to get so much as a second glance. I think that little girl might be hiding from me.<br/>I wish she’d come out.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Black Pearl

_“Sometimes, I have strange dreams about a little girl with short hair, and in each of these dreams, the two of us seem to always end up in the same place together. I can’t really tell what that place is yet, but I’m certain I’ve seen it before, so I’ll make sure to identify it soon._

_But the girl… there have been rare moments, split-second when I can see her in the distance, secretly watching me as if waiting for me to notice and follow her, and yet I’ve never managed to get so much as a second glance. I think that little girl might be hiding from me._

_I wish she’d come out.”_

\- - - - - - -

Being who and what she was, there were very little things in the world that had the ability to actually _scare_ Marceline, the Vampire Queen. Her girlfriend turning and tossing uncomfortably next to her in bed as she suffered from yet another nightmare was one of those ‘very little things,’ and the fact that she knew nothing of how to help her once again was another.

“Bonnie,” she said, lightly shaking her arm as she tried to wake her. She knew it couldn’t be too good to wake up a person during a bad dream, but she didn’t care; it couldn’t have been much worse than what she was watching. “Bonnibel, wake up.”

It took an extra second or two, but soon enough, her large pink eyes went wide and she bolted up in the bed, covered in a cold sweat.

Marceline was already sitting up, knowing what would happen as it did almost every night, and ready to catch her in her arms. She stroked Bubblegum’s long pink hair, brushing her sweaty bangs out of her eyes.

“Peppermint Butler!” she cried. “The alarm!”

“Bonnibel, stop!”

“I have to tell him to sound the alarm, the kingdom –”

“Bonnie, it’s okay! You’re okay,” she said over and over into her ear in a hushed tone, pulling her in tighter.

Bubblegum’s panicked face turned to her girlfriend, searching in her for what Marceline could only assume was the familiar face of one of her past servants, but soon enough, her wild eyes calmed, her panting faded to longer breaths and her hands found their way around the vampire’s waist.

She shuttered an exhale as she hugged Marceline the best she could in their positions, her head buried in her shoulder, and her eyes shut tight.

“The castle –”

“-is fine,” she said calmly, repeating the words as if they were a script she had forced herself to memorize long ago. “It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare, Bonnie.”

“It was just a nightmare,” she repeated, her grip on Marceline’s shirt tightening. “Of course it was. I-I’m not scared.”

A faint smile came to her lips as she continued stroking her hair. “I know you’re not.”

Marceline sat quietly with her in the dark, not bothering to turn the dim lamp on by the bedside table. It would make little difference, and besides, she knew that if the lights came on, then it would be as if another one of Bubblegum’s bad dreams had taken control of their night.

When she woke up again in the morning, she’ll remember, with every detail, how she had to reach over and break the darkness, how their sleep was interrupted, how Bubblegum would need one more minute than she would’ve needed with the light off to fall back to sleep, and she knew that when she remembered, she’d blame herself for every single thing.

As she ran her hand down the thin fabric covering Bubblegum’s back, feeling her soft breaths against her neck, she thought back to that fateful day, as she always did.

The day hers and Bonnibel’s relationship was discovered, the way Marceline herself was considered ‘inappropriate’ for the princess by the Ministry of Sucre, the decision that was forced upon their princess; either leave the vampire, or leave the crown, the choice Bonnibel made, the cries of sorrow and woe the Candy People screamed out when their precious leader was stripped of her title and forced out of the kingdom she created.

There were the rare few, those being the young who didn’t understand what was happening or why it was happening to them, and there were those, the wiser ones, who knew to blame Marceline for what had happened.

She thought about it every day; every time a drifting wanderer passed by her home and recognized the princess, every time one of her ex-rock friends would pat her on the back for destroying something as ‘pink’ and ‘colorful’ as the Candy Kingdom, every time Bubblegum would suddenly get emotional after remembering a story that happened in the kingdom, and she’d sneak off to cry her heart out behind the house when she thought her girlfriend wasn’t paying attention.

Every time she’d stare at her with a kind of emptiness and a sad smile, Marceline can’t help but think back to that day, when she found out about what Bubblegum had done, running to just outside the kingdom grounds and begging her not to enter the castle.

 

_“What’s going on?” she remembered asking as several people walked out the castle doors. She had gotten as far as the front gate, but Bubblegum ran out and stopped her as soon as she’d spotted her._

_“Nothing’s going on. I just want to go somewhere else today.”_

_“But I thought you wanted to show me something.”_

_“Forget it, it’s not important. Please, Marcy, let’s just go.”_

_“You!” they both turned to the sudden voice, and they were faced with a puffy-cheeked, chubbier girl, a good few inches shorter than them. Her large, curly ponytail swung behind her as she came up to the girl, her purple eyes flaring with rage as she stared Marceline down. “This is all **your** fault! You did this!”_

_“LSP, be quiet!” Bubblegum said, standing in front of her girlfriend._

_“What’s she talking about?”_

_“Nothing.”_

_Lumpy Space Princess snorted, pointing a finger at the black-haired girl, “I knew you were sick! Getting PB fired wasn’t enough? You came to watch?!”_

_“Fired?!”_

_“No!” she turned to Marceline, shaking her head with the best reassuring smile she could muster, which in their case, wasn’t so reassuring. “No one got fired, it was my choice.”_

_The vampire’s eyes narrowed and she glanced back at the several people behind them, their faces stone cold, and none of them would dare meet the girls’ eyes. Behind that crowd was a group of tall… (Marceline couldn’t tell what they were, blue people?) in black business suits, gathered around near the castle, dark sunglasses hiding their small, brick faces as they seemed to be in deep, serious conversation. One of them noticed Marceline’s stare and whispered to the others. They all barely lifted their heads at her and walked away._

_Realization dawned onto the vampire’s face._

_She looked back at the princess with wide eyes, grabbing her shoulders. “What did you do?”_

_Despite her glassy eyes, she smiled at Marceline in that way that made her heart melt, but her pulse quicken, and she said in almost a whisper, “It was my choice.”_

It had nearly been nine months since that day, but it felt like only yesterday that she was being steered away from the Candy Kingdom. She hadn’t pushed enough, she knew that. When she found out that the only other alternative was for the two of them to be separated, she didn’t want it. She allowed one or two nudges from the princess until she was convinced to take her home with her, and the truth was that Marceline had been hoping she wouldn’t give into her objections. She wanted Bubblegum to keep her job, but she didn’t want her to leave her, so she acted selfishly, hoping that her girlfriend’s stubborn will would pull through for her.

She wasn’t always subjected to these wake up calls, though. Wasn’t always reminded of what she did and what she allowed to happen. Bubblegum almost never brings up the kingdom anymore, not after so long a time, but there are moments here and there, like the nightmares, or the spotting of dark clouds in the distance when a storm was clear to come.

The princess would stare at the impending natural occurrence about to hit them, and she’d mumble something about Peppermint Butler or the Banana Guards, hoping they knew the precautions to take that would keep the entire Land of Ooo safe from any accidents.

At those moments, Marceline’s heart does a jump, and not the good kind like when Bubblegum holds her hand tightly as she falls asleep, or when it gets so cold that she’s cuddling up against her black-haired girlfriend, her head nuzzling into her chest.

No. The kind that makes her think that at any moment, Bonnibel was going to realize what she’d done and go running back to the castle.

Whenever the princess worries about her kingdom, Marceline worries about _her._

That’s why, when mornings finally come and the two wake up, Bonnibel acting as if nothing had happened in the middle of the night, the vampire gets to float out of bed with a free mind.

With the light shining clearly through the room, Marceline’s eyes traveled over a few of the pink trinkets and clothes Bubblegum had brought with her when she left. She wasn’t allowed much of her clothes (there was a rumor that everything in her old room in the castle was kept just as she left it, as if they knew something the girls didn’t), so one of the two suggestions she had made was to buy new ones.

“Why don’t you just wear my clothes?” she had asked. “You know my stuff is yours.”

She smiled, “Would you wear my dresses?” Marceline scrunched her nose and Bubblegum laughed. “Yeah, basically.”

She hadn’t settled for either. Instead, she thought it would be a real ‘privilege’ to sew her own clothes, and it didn’t come as much of a surprise to discover that her girlfriend was a pro at that, too. She talked about making a few dresses every day, some with the most intricate designs Marceline had ever heard, and yet, there they were, laid out on the bed every time she was finished with one.

There were times, however, when Bubblegum would settle on wearing a large T-shirt of her girlfriend’s with nothing else but a pair of her own pink underwear, times that Marceline cherished, when the kingdom wasn’t on either of their minds, and the only thing they both thought about was what they wanted to do with the other.

“That seems too improbable, Marceline,” Bonnibel said as she stood in the kitchen, wearing a light pink apron with the words Let Them Eat Cake plastered on the front in pink, covering her from one side, but doing a poor job of hiding her tank top and underwear in the back, which Marceline was grateful for. “For you to make a jump of such a high altitude, you’d have needed your vampire powers at the time, which you didn’t have.”

She was flipping strawberry pancakes out of the pan and onto her plate with ease, and in between each one, she was setting strawberries and raspberries, topped with strawberry syrup into another plate as Marceline floated on her back, entertaining her girlfriend with a few soft chords in the morning as she lightly strung at the red ax bass in her arms.

“Hey, I jumped that cliff, Bonnie, and I don’t care what you say. If it wasn’t for me, that human would’ve been vamped.”

“So, you saved him.”

“Yes, I did.”

“You did something good.”

The playing abruptly stopped, and Marceline made a quick look on her face as if she hadn’t just realized that she accidently confessed to a serious crime. She looked over to Bubblegum who was smiling over her shoulder, almost giggling.

“No. Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” she asked innocently as she turned the heat off under the steaming pan.

“You know what. Take something I did, and turn it into a good deed. That always makes my skin itch.” She laughed, bringing over the two plates to the table. “I’m not kidding, Bonnie.” Marceline moved her shoulders uncomfortably. “I already feel something tingling down my back; that’s your fault.”

Bubblegum sat across from her on the small wooden table, and went back to get a tank of what looked like to be pomegranate juice as she said, “I’ll find you the antidote for that later. But Marcy, your catapulting and rescue adventures as a half demon aside; when are you going to get to our story?”

She blushed. “ _Our_ story?”

“Yeah, you know, your side of the day you decided to ask me out. I already told you my version.”

Oh, yes. Bubblegum’s side of the story, what she was doing the day Marceline had asked her out on an official date (working on some formula for stick-free caramel. Apparently, Frozen Yogurt Princess was looking into getting a new caramel wardrobe, but Marceline had never asked for the details.)

But despite having it engraved into her memory, the vampire queen still struggled with thinking about that day without blushing. The idea of her asking anyone out at that time was so out of the picture, Marceline could still believe she had dreamt the whole thing at times, if she tried hard enough. Even though _asking_ Bubblegum anywhere was putting it very gently. The vampire queen had mostly demanded it, but she wasn’t about to revisit that topic with anyone, let alone her girlfriend. She wasn’t completely insane.

She cleared her throat as she reached for another fruit with her fork, “We’re getting there, Bonnibel, don’t rush me.”

Bubblegum raised an eyebrow at her, but as soon as Marceline went back to playing her guitar, her eyes shut, she shrugged it off, and cut into another pancake.

“I want to go do the laundry today.”

“Why?” she opened one eye as she kept stringing. “I can just have it sent out for dry cleaning. Don’t bother yourself with that stuff.”

“I can do it, though,” she said. “I like the river.”

She shrugged, “if you want to go, we’ll go.”

“You can’t come.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t you usually have those… uh,” she struggled to find the words, then lifted her fingers to air-quote the phrase, “ _band sessions_ with your friends today? Aren’t you going with them?”

Marceline’s music stopped, and she bit back a curse as she tried not to turn stiff in front of Bubblegum. She had conveniently forgotten to mention that she didn’t talk with any of her _band friends_ anymore. At least, she hadn’t since her girlfriend lost her princess position because of her. At that moment, it was as if anyone Marceline had ever gotten along with decided to jump at the chance to attack the past leader of the Candy Kingdom, and aside from turning into a wolf and tearing them all to shreds for so easily taunting her girlfriend, Marceline figured it was best to just cut off all ties with them (and maybe threaten them to keep a safe distance from Bubblegum.)

She personally didn’t mind it. After getting Bonnibel to be her girlfriend, it was more than enough company for her, but she had yet to actually tell Bubblegum what she had done. The princess would never admit it, but even after so many months, she could see that she still carried the fate of the kingdom on her shoulders. Marceline knew that Bubblegum held herself responsible for too many things in Ooo; she wasn’t about to add something else to the list.

It bothered her to be dragged out of spending the day together because of a lie, but there was no other way she could see to work around that.

“I don’t know, Bonnie, I really don’t like you going down there alone. It’s too far out of Ooo.”

She swallowed her pancake. “It’s not _that_ far.”

Marceline pulled the guitar out of her lap as she folded her legs in the chair. “It’s far enough. Can’t you just wait until I get back?”

“That’s ridiculous,” she said simply as she lifted another bite to her lips with her pink fork and knife. “I’m perfectly capable of handling myself, Marcy. I don’t need a chaperone.”

She frowned, “I’m not saying you do, I’m just saying it would make me feel a lot better to be with you than off worrying that you’re being attacked by a giant earthworm again.”

Bubblegum put her utensils down. “Again with the earthworm. That was one time, and I had the situation completely under control.”

“Trying to take specimens of a monster as it attacks you is not keeping the situation under control, Bonnie.”

“I was doing it for science,” she said defensively, as if that was supposed to excuse her from putting her own life at risk countless times.

Marceline ruffled her hair in frustration, “Just once, would you listen to me, and stop trying to look into everything? Your curiosity’s going kill me one of these days.” She leaned forward on the table, “You get that, Bonnie? Curiosity’s supposed to kill the cat, not the vampire. You’re destroying basic logic!”

Bubblegum stared, a smile forming as she tilted her head, “Are you finished?”

The black-haired girl slumped back in her seat, rubbing her eyes as she tried to take the sleep out, “I don’t know, yes, I don’t know – what I was saying… something about cats and logic. I think murder was somewhere in there, too.”

She giggled and stepped out of her seat, placing a kiss on Marceline’s forehead as she carried her plate to the sink. “So, laundry?”

Marceline sighed, “Please, be careful.”

***

Be careful. That was a line Bubblegum still wasn’t used to hearing. As a princess, she was constantly followed by her banana escorts, Peppermint Butler, or anyone else that wanted to be with the ruler of the Candy Kingdom for a day, but it was very rare that someone would tell her to be cautious about her choices or actions.

She was their leader, and everything she did had some kind of benefit to the kingdom and its people. That was something everyone knew, something they all trusted and could believe in; that their princess knew what she was doing, so no one ever worried. She herself still didn’t know how she felt about Marceline’s concern.

She was used to worrying about people, but this attention was new to her. It was a different kind of care that was in a lot of ways very similar to the one she had given the Candy People, but so unlike it in the smallest aspects that Bubblegum couldn’t begin to explain it with words or science like she was so used to doing, which was very disconcerting to her.

As she adjusted the basket of laundry on her hip, walking past several trees and freshly fallen leaves in her light ballerina shoes, she thought about her girlfriend and the way she had lied to her face that morning. Bubblegum knew the truth; that Marceline had cut off ties with all of her friends because of her, and that she wasn’t playing a few songs with them right now.

What she was most likely doing at the moment was following not too far behind Bubblegum in bat form from high in the trees. At first, she thought she might’ve returned to the house after Bubblegum left and continued working on her music there, but with the worry she showed that morning, she knew that her girlfriend had to be following her.

There were times in the past that Bubblegum had just wanted to stop the silly games and call Marceline out on it, but she refrained. Part of it may have been not to embarrass her, but if she was being completely honest, it was mostly for her sake. She was already the reason so many of her subjects were left without a leader they could depend on, she didn’t want Marceline’s loss to be on her conscience as well. So, she allowed her girlfriend to quietly follow, knowing that she wouldn’t dare show herself anyway.

Half an hour into the walk and the princess was starting to get tired. It wasn’t as if she had never done manual work before, but most of her physical activities used to be within the lab, and even she had to admit; it was tiring. But she liked it. She liked feeling the sweat on her forehead and the burn in her arms and legs. It made her feel real, which was more than welcomed after being in what felt like a continuous haze for so long.

It was at the sound of running water that she breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that following the feces pattern would guarantee she was moving in the right direction. It wasn’t too long after that she spotted the crystal river, and with her fatigue momentarily forgotten, she ran up to the water, and dropped to her knees at its edge. With the wooden basket at her side, her hands were free for her to lower into the icy water.

As soon as she touched it, her eyes involuntarily closed in ecstasy and she bit her lower lip. Her body had to have been burning since she woke up because she immediately felt the difference as the cold cut through the thick air that was surrounding her.

She suddenly giggled, surprising even herself at the outburst, and covered her mouth immediately, embarrassed at the lack of lady-like grace. Not wanting to start working right away, she splashed her face and leaned back to a dryer area of the grass where she examined the mud covering her knees, and rubbed as much of it as she could off, not worrying too much about the mess because she knew that it would wash up when she stood in the water to scrub the clothes.

She lay back on the grass, her pink hair spread out across the green blades as her arms stretched out. She breathed in deeply as the light breeze hit her face and a sliver of her stomach that was peeking out under the hem of the short dress that had risen up, and she closed her eyes, listening to nothing but the sound of the wind on leaves and the birds singing in the distance.

It was at a time like that when Bubblegum wished she could’ve been more selfish and told Marceline to cancel her _plans_ , or tell her to come out from spying on her so that they could both sit in the beautiful land together. She wanted to rest her head on her shoulder, hear her sing her songs with that beautiful voice she loved so much.

The thought of Marceline’s voice, telling her to sing along even when she kept rejecting, saying that the vampire was the singer between the two; she smiled to herself as she remembered a time, long ago, when they were both children, and had known each other for only a short time.

She couldn’t have been much older than nine, Marceline around twelve (that’s as old as they both looked anyway), and she had just told Bubblegum that she wrote her first song. When the princess looked it over, her pink eyes sparkled; it was the most beautiful song she’d ever laid eyes on.

She’d never gotten much of the details about who the song was meant for, but she did figure out that she had written it as a dedication to an older friend she used to have who had left her, someone she loved who she wanted to wake up out of his trance and return to her, but she never knew anything beyond that. Marceline seemed distressed whenever the topic came up so Bubblegum didn’t ask questions or press for answers.

She was, however, excited to hear the song off paper, but Marceline told her that she had written it in hopes of having her princess friend sing. Bubblegum continuously refused that request, claiming that the song was too special to be ruined by her mediocre voice, and that it held too much sentimental meaning to have anyone but the one who wrote it bring the notes to life.

But she remembered how Marceline had blushed and looked away, how that wall she often carried that separated her from everybody else moved aside for a short moment, and she told her that because the song was so special, it had to be sung by someone special, that being Bubblegum.

Still, though it warmed her heart that she had that kind of opinion of her despite all her teasing, she insisted that Marceline would either be the one to sing it, or no one at all, so months went by, and the song was never heard.

Then, on the day of Bubblegum’s birthday, Marceline angered the Ancient Sleeping Magi of Life Giving, and as punishment, she was cast to fall into an endless slumber. After several negotiations, the princess was allowed to take her body, and was told that the only way to break a powerful spell was the most conventional method ever used in history; love.

When they returned to the Candy Kingdom, Marceline’s sleeping body was placed in a secret room in the castle, where she could rest hidden as she would’ve wanted. There she was, this stranger from outside Ooo whom no one had ever seen, surrounded by an assortment of tall and short candles alike as the princess spent every second of that day in her lab, reading books and experimenting with different chemicals to find a potion that would be strong enough to wake her friend, but nothing had succeeded.

Finally, there came the time when she wanted to visit the half-demon girl herself. At first, she had kept her distance, afraid, for once, of getting too close so as not to be reminded of her many failed attempts. When realization hit her that there was someone in her kingdom that she couldn’t help, she did something she doesn’t often do; she chose to listen to her heart instead of her head.

At that moment, she went down to the large ball that had been held in honor of her birthday and she asked the Candy People to sing. They found it strange at first, but their love and loyalty for their princess pushed them to follow in her lead, and with an anxious heart, she sang the song that Marceline had written.

What was intentionally meant as a solo had turned into an entire orchestra that could be heard throughout the entire kingdom, Bubblegum’s hands folded at her chest as she hoped in her heart that this song, this last resort would be enough to do what her science couldn’t.

She didn’t know why at the time, whether it was because she was moved at the magic her people could and would create for her, or fear of losing someone she loved, but as she sang, she cried. Warm tears streaked her pink cheeks as her thoughts ran to Marceline, asking if she could hear her voice, if she would come back to her.

The song then ended with a word, and just as it did, Bubblegum turned her head to see Marceline standing there behind the large pillar in the dark, where the rest of the kingdom on the ground floor could have no hope of seeing her. The two stared at each other as the Candy People cheered; most likely amazed at the beauty they had all created together only seconds ago, but Bubblegum’s eyes wouldn’t leave those of the black-haired girl. She remembered the way Marceline stared at her, and all Bubblegum had thought of at the time wasn’t the joy she felt to see her awake, nor whether or not the song had been done in justice.

It was that look on Marceline’s face; the one of astonishment and wonder, as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard, but was grateful to have it.

Bubblegum had pulled her gaze away for a second to dry the tears off, but as soon as she turned back, her friend was gone. She stood for a short second in surprise before searching that dark hall, leaving the others to enjoy the rest of the party, after which she had the entire castle searched, but there was no sign of Marceline anywhere.

She had begun to think that she would never hear from her again, but almost a year later, she got word that Marceline was a vampire hunter, protecting a group of humans from danger. She had no way of returning anything to her, a sign or invitation to come to Ooo for protection, and after several months of more silence, there was the news that she had been bitten by an enemy of the Candy Kingdom, the Vampire King, and had been turned into a vampire herself.

After that, her visits became a lot more frequent, and she’d sneak in through the window every night so that they could spend whatever free time the princess had together, though it wasn’t that often. She wondered at times how happy Marceline could’ve been with someone who was too busy to hang out with her most of the time. She wondered why Marceline loved her, how she could ever love someone… like her.

Suddenly, there was the sound of rustling bushes somewhere behind her snapping her out of her thoughts, and she opened her eyes, lifted her head, and turned to the source of the noise. At first, there was nothing there, and the sounds stopped for a while, so she thought that she might have imagined the presence of something there, but then it came back and she could hear the sound rapid branches being broken.

She stepped back, her eyes cautiously eying the forest entrance from which she came as she thought of what horrible, gruesome monster could come shooting at her. She knew it couldn’t be her girlfriend because she’d never let herself be revealed so obviously to Bubblegum. She was definitely hiding in the trees, so this was someone else.

Marceline had to have been watching though, she knew she was, probably on the edge of her bat claws as she changed trees to get a closer position next to her girlfriend in case she needed to come out quickly to fight somebody or something off, but Bubblegum didn’t want to be rescued. She wanted to show that she was tough enough to save herself, if anything, to her own girlfriend. Marceline’s opinion of her mattered more than she could ever express, and being a burden that was in constant need of help didn’t seem like the best image to have.

Bubblegum slowly leaned down, took hold of the basket full of clothes, and gently placed it behind her before she stood in battle position with a determined look on her face.

“Alright, you, come out. There’s no point in hiding from me.” There was no response at first, though the rattling grew louder. She frowned and raised her voice, “I said, come out –”

But before she could finish her sentence, a blue, white, and yellow blob came jumping out from the entrance, and landed right at Bubblegum’s feet. She took a step back, careful not to push the basket into the water as she kept her eyes on the creature laid out on the ground which was soon revealed to be two bodies. After what felt like a silent minute, Bubblegum was beginning to be concerned, and she kneeled down to the bodies to flip them over. As soon as her fingers touched them, the leaves in one of the trees rattled, a kind of hissing noise filling the sky.

 _What are you doing, Bonnie?!_ She imagined Marceline say from her hiding spot. _They could be infected or something, don’t touch them!_

She exhaled a quick breath before she pushed the two over onto their backs, and as soon as she saw their faces, her eyes went wide.

A human! One of them was a human boy, and the yellow creature was a dog! Bubblegum lowered her face closer to the boy, taking in the look of his sleeping face. Amazing!

All of a sudden, his eyes shot open, and he screamed, forcing Bubblegum back until she tripped over the basket and fell into the river. The boy jumped up, his arms in the air as he kept screaming.

“Take that, you flippin’ goblins! That’ll teach you to mess with me! You want some of this?!!”

Bubblegum slowly stood up, soaking as she listened to the boy with the piercing voice punch into the air. She realized that he recently had to have been in battle as she slowly stepped out of the water, her dress soaking from the bottom down, and her entire body shivering.

The boy stopped screaming once he noticed the dog next to him, and he immediately fell down to him, his face in a panic. “Jake!” he held the dog in his arms, “Talk to me buddy! Come on! You can’t go out like this, man! We were supposed to have ice cream for dinner tonight, remember?!”

“I think I can help,” Bubblegum said, gaining his attention.

As soon as his blue eyes fell on her, he couldn’t pull away. She came closer and kneeled next to them, holding her arms out so that he’d hand over the dog, and she smiled.

“May I?”

He quietly stared, his cheeks visibly turning red as he slowly nodded and gently placed his friend in her lap. She nodded to him once in reassurance before she dragged herself closer to the river that she had just walked out of, and she scooped up some water in hand. She gently trickled it on the dog’s face, and fanned at the drops she made as she looked up at the boy who had to have been staring at her because as soon as she turned to him, he immediately looked away, his face flushed.

“Jake, was it?”

He nodded, and she looked down at the dog. “Jake, can you hear me?” No response. “Can you tell me what you smell right now?”

A short second later, the dog slowly smiled and said, “C-Candy and…” his eyes opened immediately, “Bubblegum!”

“Jake!” the boy’s attention returned to his friend and he smiled widely as the two hugged, “You feeling okay, buddy?”

“Yeah, I’m good, Finn,” he said in his much deeper voice, then he turned and noticed the girl whose legs he was now leaning against. His eyes went wide and he blushed, “Wow, pretty.”

Bubblegum smiled as they all stood, “I’m so relieved you’re alright.”

“Yeah,” the boy, Finn said. “Thanks to you. How’d you know how to do that?”

“Oh, it was basic science. When major senses are locked down or faded, such as sight, other senses grow, like smell and taste.”

He pointed himself, then at his dog, “I’m Finn, and this is Jake. We’re adventurists.”

Out of habit, she gave a slight bow of her head to both of them, “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Princess –” she realized what she was saying mid introduction and immediately bit her tongue. She had to get used to stop using that title. “I-I’m Bonnibel Bubblegum.” Both of the boys’ eyes widened at the name, and their jaws dropped. “What is it?”

Finn pointed at her, still shocked, “ _You’re_ Princess Bubblegum?”

Her eyebrows rose, “You’ve heard of me?”

The two glanced at each other, their mouths open, but they both seemed unable to speak until Jake finally said, his face ecstatic, “Yeah! Who hasn’t, man?! You’re PB! Oh man, everyone in Ooo talks about you all the time. You’re, like, their hero!” He turned to his friend, and said, “Dude, can you believe this? Who would’ve known we’d meet _Princess Bubblegum_ today? And _here_ of all places?”

Bubblegum looked down at herself and remembered that she looked like a mess with her muddy knees and her wet dress which was starting to get cold.

She lightly chuckled, “Yes, I realize I may not look so much like the princess now.”

Finn looked embarrassed and shook his head violently, “N-No way! You look… beautiful. We just didn’t think you’d be all the way out _here_ , that’s all.”

She nodded as she hugged her arms to try to keep herself warm from the wind that was making her wet dress all the icier, and the two males had noticed.

“Oh, man, are you cold, Princess?” he glanced at the river, and his eyes went wide with horror. “Oh my Glob! I remember now! I pushed you into the water!”

She stifled a laugh, “You didn’t push me, Finn. I fell in.”

He blinked, his hand going up to cover his now crimson red cheeks. “Whoa, my name sounds so cool when you say it.” He looked over to Jake and nodded in Bubblegum’s direction. “Do your thing, Jake.”

He smiled, “On it!” With a jump, the dog’s body had spread out like a blanket, and he wrapped himself around her shivering body. His head came around her back to meet her eyes, “How’s that, Princess?”

“Fascinating,” she said as she examined the dog’s fur, “the way you can stretch your body like that. You must be filled with elastic polymers. And _you!_ ” she looked to Finn, “I thought all humans were extinct.”

He laughed as he folded his hands behind his head, looking proud of himself for existing which Bubblegum thought was very adorable of such a young boy. She assumed he had to be at most thirteen; certain he couldn’t be any older than that.

“Yeah, well, I’m pretty awesome like that. You know, one of my kind, and all that jazz. But you’re the only one of your kind, too. Aren’t you, Princess?” He seemed to have realized what he said because his eyes went wide as soon as the words left his mouth and he lowered his head. “You know, ‘c-cause I haven’t really seen anyone like you around Ooo.”

“That is true. We’re all the only ones of our kind, I suppose. But if you’re from Ooo, why are you all the way out here?” she asked, unable to stop the questions from pouring out of her; a habit she has yet to learn how to keep under control.

“It’s ‘cause we were on a mission, Princess!” Jake said. “Some cabbage farmers had their gardens trumped by a bunch of nasty ol’ ghoul goblins.”

She gasped, “How awful! Are the farmers alright?”

“Yeah, no worries! We sent them running for good!” Finn said, then scratched the back of his head as he chuckled, embarrassed. “Got a little beat up on the way, though, but it’s all good.”

“Oh,” Bubblegum said, realizing who she was talking to. “I get it now! You’re righteous heroes, aren’t you? Warriors?”

They both looked amazed, “How did you figure that out?”

She shrugged, “Logic. You came out all this way to help someone in need, and,” she nodded to his backpack and the sword it carried, “you carry a weapon with you as well as provisions. It’s the only conclusion that makes sense.”

The two looked at each other for a moment, a surprised look on their faces, then they squealed with excitement as a fangirl would for her idol.

“That’s flipping incredible, Princess!” Finn said as he stared at her, his eyes filled with adoration. “You really are a genius, just like they said!”

She shook her head, amazed as she mumbled, “Man, you would’ve been so great to have in the Candy Kingdom, so much would’ve gotten done, so many people spared from harm.”

“We’ve actually been waiting for you, though.” Jake said.

She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“It’s like you said, Princess,” Finn explained. “We’re righteous. We do occasionally go out and seek those in need, but those deeds are kind of aimless; we never really know what direction we’re heading in. Ever since we discovered the Candy Kingdom, since we discovered _you_ , we’ve been waiting for you to come back and give us missions.”

“ _Me?_ ”

“Yeah! There’s nothing more righteous than being the knight of a leader you l-l-love and trust.”

“And that’s _me_? But… you just met me.”

“Yeah, but the people of Ooo have known you since forever, and they all trust you with their lives; that means you’re a hero, too, Princess. Doesn’t it?”

Bubblegum’s face fell. The people trusted her with their lives? Weren’t they mad at her for leaving them? How come that part of the story was never mentioned?

“So, when?” she heard Finn ask, and she realized that he had been talking to her when she spaced out.

“Sorry, when what?”

The two smiled at her, their eyes wide. “When are you coming back to the Candy Kingdom?”

She frowned. How would she be able to answer that kind of a question? She didn’t even know if she wanted to. Since the day she walked off those grounds, no one had ever been there to ask her when she would return, and so she’d never had to say that she wouldn’t. As of now, she had never had to explain that she was given an ultimatum for falling in love, and she made the difficult decision no one had ever expected her to make.

She hesitantly opened her mouth to explain the situation, though she didn’t know where to begin, but before she could get a word out, the sound of ruffling leaves high above them got her attention, and she noticed a small, black bat fly away at a rapid speed.

Her shoulders slumped when she remembered that Marceline had been following her, and so she had definitely heard the entire conversation she had had with Finn and Jake. She heard Bubblegum being called Princess, she heard what was said about the Candy People, and she heard her speak about the Candy Kingdom as if she was still its ruler. She may have just broken her girlfriend’s heart.

***

Marceline flew as fast as her wings could carry her, but no matter how far she went, it wasn’t enough to escape the sound of that stupid question ringing in her head.

_When are you coming back to the Candy Kingdom?_

Why would that stupid kid even ask something like that? She’s obviously not in Ooo, and she’s not asking about the kingdom, is she? Why would he bother her with something that’s already in the past?

She shouldn’t have left like that, she knew it. Bubblegum had to have noticed her, with that big brain of hers, and she would’ve figured out that she had been following her the entire time. What’s more, she should’ve flown down there and answered that dreaded question for her, given those two a good scare so that they that knew the princess had a vampire girlfriend that shouldn’t be annoyed.

When she got close enough to her home, she almost stopped flying midair for spotting a tall, blue-skinned man in a black suit and sunglasses talking into an earpiece as he stood in front of her house. She recognized him as a member of the Ministry of Sucre, one of the men she saw standing outside the castle the day Bubblegum left, and her rage grew. She turned out of bat mode and floated the remaining few steps to her house when the large man finally noticed her.

“What are you doing here?” He didn’t answer. “This is _my_ house; you don’t have permission to be here.”

He tilted his head at her as if she was a pair of jeans he preferred not to buy before he straightened himself and asked, “Where’s the princess?”

She narrowed her eyes, “None of your business.”

“I’ve come to speak to her.”

“About what?”

“That’s for her to know.”

Marceline felt her grip grow tighter as she clenched her jaw so hard that it seemed like her fangs would cut into her gums. She couldn’t take this anymore; this constant fear of everyone and everything concerning the kingdom coming up to their doorstep, never leaving their minds at peace for a single second. Even after so long, it was always there, gnawing at their brains like an itch they couldn’t get rid of. When was it going to leave them alone?!

“Don’t waste your breath,” she said through grit teeth. “Bonnibel doesn’t care about the kingdom anymore, so leave her alone.” Even as she said it, she regretted using her girlfriend’s name in that way, insinuating that the place she created didn’t matter to her, but she couldn’t handle that cold attitude the guy was carrying; as if he knew Marceline’s girlfriend better than she did.

He raised a dark blue eyebrow at her before he scowled, something she hadn’t expected with his neutral expression. “You pathetic little vermin,” he spat and slowly took off his glasses to stare at her with his blood-red eyes. “You think she’s like _you_? You think she’s anything like _your kind_?”

Marceline felt her skin tingle, the taste of blood filling her mouth as she imagined her fangs growing to three times their size.

_Shut up._

He stepped forward, his eyes boring into hers. “She’s a _princess_ ; she has duties, not that a creature like you would understand what that would mean to her.”

_Shut up!_

 “This _love_ nonsense you’ve had her following has gone on long enough, and now, it’s time for her to return to her rightful place, and away from monsters like _you_.” He leaned his face in closer to her, “So, you see, demon, I’m here to _warn_ her; either come back peacefully with me, or be carried in on a stretcher.”

Her anger could no longer be controlled and before she knew it, her normal arm was replaced by that of a giant wolf’s.

She clawed at the space in front of her, forcing the man back.

“DON’T YOU DARE LAY A FINGER ON HER! You touch a hair on her head, and I swear I’ll tear you apart, piece by piece!!”

His face returned to neutral as he put his glasses back on. He stared at Marceline a moment, then nodded slowly. “Consider yourselves warned. Mind you, extraction periods never last more than twenty-four hours.”

He turned and began to walk away, Marceline’s eyes still wide from his last threat. Twenty-four hours? Were they going to try something within a day?

She could feel herself growl and she screamed out, “She’s never coming back, get it?!! NEVER!”

She felt herself screaming to no one as the tall man’s figure slowly disappeared out of sight. He was gone so quickly that Marceline was willing to believe she had imagined the whole confrontation, but she could still feel her hands shaking with rage.

That was the dumbest thing she could’ve done; let him get to her like that. She didn’t want to give him more power than he thought he already had. Besides, she knew Bubblegum more than anyone; she knew she loved her, she knew she could protect her better than anyone else could, and she definitely knew that if she was given the choice between Marceline and the Candy Kingdom, she would choose Marceline just like before. She knew that, and she was sure.

But why couldn’t she stop shaking?

“Marcy?” she felt a cold hand slip into hers, and her arm went completely still. She felt the lump in her throat disappear as she turned to Bubblegum’s concerned face, her clothes still soaking wet and a basket of wet clothes in her free arm. “Are you okay?”

Marceline had only just realized that the princess was panting heavily, her face a little more red than usual. She swallowed back her anger almost as quickly as a heartbeat when she covered Bubblegum’s hand with both of hers.

“Are _you_? Why are you panting?”

She laughed tiredly, “I ran back. I wanted to see you.”

“You… ran back? In wet clothes?” Marceline pulled at the hem of the dress, trying to take the soaking fabric off her skin. Bubblegum raised her hands as her dress was pulled over her, and she was left there standing in her tank top and underwear in the open as her girlfriend began taking off her large t-shirt. “Why would you do that? You could get sick, there’s no logic there.”

She happily wore the shirt and hugged herself to embrace the warm clothes to her freezing body, and as she did, she shrugged, “There is though; I really wanted to see you now and couldn’t wait until later, so it’s only logical that I come as quickly as I can.”

Marceline stared for a moment, and soon, a smile formed on her lips as she tried to process her reasoning. She wanted to see her right away, so she ran through the forest in wet clothes, risking a fever. It didn’t seem like she found out about having a bat follow her around all day, which was a relief, but the greatest relief was just having her there, in front of her, holding her hand, saying that she wanted to be with her.

It was at times like that she was reminded that Bubblegum was more than a princess of a kingdom. That wasn’t what she ever really was to Marceline. She was always so much more than that; she was her heart. She was the one that allowed her to experience emotions she wouldn’t and couldn’t with anybody else, the one that helped her breath when she would occasionally forget how to, the one that kept her warm without burning her.

She combed through her pink bangs, straightening them out before she laughed and pulled her in for a hug. Wearing nothing but her black bra, she buried her face in Bubblegum’s neck, taking in that scene of candy she’d grown to love so much, and as she felt two arms wrap around her waist, pulling her in closer, she felt that surge of warmth surge through her again, stronger than before.

Then, the threat she had heard only minutes ago rung in her ears again, and for a split second, the chill came back.

_Twenty-four hours._

That night, as they both lay in bed, Marceline couldn’t sleep. It was stupid to worry herself, she knew, but as she turned to looked at Bubblegum whose back was turned to her, the moonlight shining on her, making her light pink hair look almost platinum, she couldn’t help but be slightly concerned.

So far, no one had physically tried anything to have the both of them separated, which should’ve been a relief, but what if that was their plan all along? What if they hadn’t bothered because they all knew that at some point the princess would return to them and leave her girlfriend behind?

Marceline groaned as she rubbed her face, trying to clear her mind for a minute to give herself some rest, but it wouldn’t work. She tapped her fingers on her stomach and closed her eyes as she took slow, deep breaths, but after five entire minutes, she still wasn’t any closer to sleeping. Finally, before she knew it, Bubblegum turned over and took hold of her arm, bringing it over her waist.

She stroked her arm as she closed her eyes while Marceline lay close against her back. The vampire waited, in case her girlfriend wanted to say something to her, but at the feeling of her skin on hers, as if knowing to calm her heavy heart, she started struggling to keep her eyes open. Before she knew it, Marceline could feel herself slipping into the dream world with one thought clear in her mind; she had hoped Bubblegum was always there to touch her.

_Eight-year-old Marceline kicked at a pebble on the beat up road, her precious doll Hambo in arms as she walked the streets of what looked like Ooo. Though, not so much anymore after the Mushroom War. Houses lay broken down and partly reduced to rubble, the air reeked of a burning fire, and Marceline had to keep her eyes on the ground to avoid falling into a ditch._

_She turned in a circle as she waited for her friend Simon who said he would be back as fast as lightning and hour ago, but she knew he was coming. His absences were starting to get longer these days, and there were times when she was so sure that he wouldn’t come back for her, or something had happened, but he always returned, and it would leave Marceline so guilty for losing her faith in him, if only for a short moment._

_Now, she never doubts that he’ll come back. He said that he had gone to look for food, and told her to wait in that spot she’d been walking around in._

_“Don’t move from this street,” he warned. “Otherwise, I won’t be able to find you.”_

_And so she didn’t. She’d been turning in circles since he left, singing songs at times to her doll to pass the time, but at the sudden sound of moving rubble, she froze._

_She looked around, but she couldn’t see anyone or anything moving._

_“Simon?” she called out, but no one answered._

_She heard the same sound again, and immediately pulled Hambo in closer to her. That definitely wasn’t Simon; he wouldn’t ignore her when she called out to him. It had to be someone else, but that wasn’t a possibility she wanted to consider. She was just a kid, all alone in the middle of a destroyed city. What was she going to do if something came out and attacked her? She felt her eyes sting as the sound continued, and out of nowhere, there came a light voice._

_“Alright, try to move your hind legs this time.”_

_Marceline tilted her head at the command. She thought she and Simon were the only people around for miles. She identified the direction that it was coming from and she debated in her head whether or not she should look for the source, but when she heard a faint yelp, she instinctively ran up a large hill of collapsed cement, managing to barely climb up with one arm, her toy tucked safely in the other._

_When she got to the top, her pace became slower and she cautiously peeked over the edge, her eyes widening as soon as she saw another little girl, obviously younger than her, rubbing at her back as she sat across from what looked like a horse in the rubble._

_The horse spoke something incoherent to Marceline, the concern obvious on its face, but the pink-haired girl seemed to understand as she replied in plain English, “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, Lady.”_

_She stepped towards the horse and took hold of its two front hooves, “Let’s try this again. Remember; move your legs, not just our body.” It nodded and with a count to three, the two pulled again, their faces turning red as they held their breaths._

_The girl lost her grip and was sent flying backwards. The horse called out to her, trying to move forward but remembered that it was stuck._

_“I’m okay, Lady,” she said, the pain in her face indicating she was anything but alright. Despite that, she stood back up and made her way forward, trying for a reassuring smile. “I’m okay. Come on.”_

_She took another hold of the hooves, and tried pulling again, but Marceline could tell she was going to slip again. She didn’t know where she found the strength or the voice to call out to the girl to stop, but she did, and though there was a loud voice screaming at her, calling her an idiot, she had to admit there was a tiny part of her that liked the way the girl’s large pink eyes looked at her._

_She slid down the hill a lot easier than she did climbing it, but she came fast enough that she was forced into a sprint as soon as her feet touched ground level. She came to a halt in front of them, and though the horse seemed to pull back the closer she got, the pink girl stood her ground and tilted her head at her. It didn’t take long for Marceline to notice that the horse had a horn on its head, and she realized right away that it was a unicorn, though she had never seen one with so many colors before… or any, for that matter._

_“You’re never going to be able to pull your friend out by yourself. The rubble’s too big, and you’re too small.”_

_If she had any questions about who this strange new girl was, she didn’t ask nor show that she had any interest. If anything, she just looked frustrated, as if she’d been told it was impossible more than a million times already._

_“I don’t have any choice. I’m not leaving her here if that’s what you’re suggesting.”_

_“That wasn’t,” she said, slightly offended that was how this girl imagined her to be. “But I am bigger than you, maybe…” she trailed off, suddenly embarrassed to make the offer._

_The girl raised her eyebrows. “Are you suggesting we try together?”_

_Marceline blushed, unaware as to why, and nodded silently. The unicorn spoke again in her friend’s direction, her eyes narrowed as she rambled on in what only sounded like gibberish, but it had to have been a language because that girl replied, “That’s alright, Lady. The decision to trust her is mine.”_

_The two each took one of the unicorn’s hooves, and with another count, they both pulled has hard as they could, Marceline’s Hambo placed at the ground right beneath her feet. At first, Marceline can feel their grip loosening, but just at that moment, the unicorn came tumbling out and the two girls were sent backwards against the rubble._

_Marceline was able to sit up fine, but in terms of the other girl, it could’ve been the tenth time that she was slammed into bricks. Without thinking about it, she ran the few steps between them and pulled her arm over her shoulders._

_“Are you okay?”_

_She groaned, her eyes stills shut as she muttered two words loud enough for Marceline to hear. “Lady Rainicorn.”_

_Their heads both lifted at the sound of joy coming from above them, and Marceline’s eyes widened to the see the unicorn’s body was long, almost as long as the girls’ two bodies put together. Not only that, but she was happily flying above them as well, her rainbow colors shining like northern lights in the sky. She said something in that language of hers, though Marceline still couldn’t tell what it was, it was starting to sound familiar._

_The girl smiled, and with her pain momentarily forgotten, she ran from Marceline’s side and to her unicorn friend with open arms and a laugh to which she was greeted by a hug as her friend wrapped her entire body around hers._

_It was at that moment that Marceline noticed Hambo lying on the ground, waiting for his owner to come pick him up, and the little black-haired girl gasped as she ran to her doll. How could she have forgotten about Hambo, even if just for a second?_

_“I thank you,” she heard the girl say and she turned to face her, Hambo back in her arms. “Lady Rainicorn also thanks you.”_

_I thank you? Marceline almost giggled at how fancy the little girl sounded, especially in comparison to how much she looked like a child._

_“Why are you here? Are you lost?”_

_Before Marceline had a chance to answer that, the unicorn said something to the girl, and she frowned._

_“No, she’s not. Mind your manners, Lady.”_

_“I’m not what?”_

_The girl shook her head and smiled, “Nothing.” She stepped closer and took hold of both of her hands with her own. “Tell me, my brave wanderer, would you like to come back with us? We’ve found a patch of land that I believe is quite befitting for what I have in store.”_

_Marceline blushed at the contact. The girl’s skin was so warm, Marceline felt as if she was being hugged by a blanket, though she didn’t know why it surprised her so much. Maybe it was a shock to find someone at all so kind and pleasant to be around in such a dead atmosphere of the after-effects of war._

_She looked away, suddenly too nervous to look at the girl’s eyes. “Y-You don’t talk like a kid. You talk like an adult.”_

_The girl’s face fell and so did her hands, and Marceline felt a twinge of guilt at how her sentence sounded, but soon enough, the unicorn was saying something again to the girl, no doubt something to make her feel better because as soon as she was finished, she was smiling proudly._

_“That’s what’s necessary. I will try to ease up though.” She turned back to Marceline, and instead of holding her hands, she folded them behind her back. “So what do you say? You want to come with us?”_

_Marceline thought about it, but as she looked back to the hill, she remembered Simon and how he had told her not to move. If he came back and she was gone, he would panic. She didn’t know how badly she wanted to go with this girl, but she did know how much she wanted to be with her trusted friend._

_She waved it off, “Nah, I’m okay. I’m just waiting for my friend to come back. He’s going to find us our own way.”_

_“I see,” she said, and it might have been hidden hope at the time, but Marceline could’ve sworn she heard slight disappointment in the girl’s voice. She reached into the pocket of her pink dress, and pulled out two red and white peppermint candies. She stretched her hand out to Marceline, and said, “Go on, take one. I was going to use them for an experiment I wanted to try, a hope really, but I can make do with just one. Take one, to show my gratitude.”_

_Marceline reached out, her eyes glancing to the girl’s face as she slowly took one of the peppermint candies from her hand. “Thanks.” Soon enough, Marceline heard Simon’s panicked voice calling out for her from behind the hill, and her heart jumped. She knew he’d be back! “Simon, I’m here!” She turned to the girl again, to tell her to come meet her friend, but as soon as she looked, she was surprised to find that the girl and her unicorn friend had both disappeared._

_She should’ve run over the hill to Simon, but she didn’t. She just stood there staring at the space that once held her friend, and as she did, only one thought ran through her head as she felt her breathing pick up pace faster and faster until she was panting._

_Bubblegum was gone._

_“Bonnibel!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, filled with fear as her eyes began immediately watering. “Bonnie!”_

 

“Bonnie!” she sat up screaming, only to be greeted by her own room. She frantically looked around for her girlfriend, but as soon as she turned her head, Bubblegum was sitting there with a look of concern on her face as she held onto Marceline’s shoulders, trying to calm her down.

“Marcy! I’m right here!” she held her face in her hands as she tried to look into her eyes. “I’m right here.”

Marceline stared at her for a moment, running her hands up and down her sides to make sure she was real. “You’re here.”

“I’m here.”

The vampire brought her arm around Bubblegum and pulled her onto her lap so that the princess was straddling her. She dug her face into the pink-haired girl’s shoulder and nuzzled in deeper as her hug tightened.

Bubblegum didn’t know what to do but hug back, rubbing her back calmly, but Marceline only felt it a few seconds after when she was no longer panting. It was moments like these that terrified her as well; moments where she’d be so certain that she was going to be alone again that she couldn’t believe the girl she loved was still with her even when she was staring her in the face.

But the reality was that Bubblegum had chosen her, and was with her, in her arms. She knew what it felt like to be with someone, it was too late to go back to that lonely world. She wouldn’t do it. As long as she knew the princess loved her, as long as she felt anything towards her, she wouldn’t allow them to be separated from each other. Even if it killed her, she was going to keep Bubblegum by her side.

A couple of hours into breakfast, Marceline suggested they would go on a picnic. Of course, after Bubblegum double checked the weather to make sure it was – as her princess put it – _picnic-suitable_. All she knew was that it was one of those days when she didn’t want to play any music – which were extremely rare – or play any pranks on anyone in Ooo for fun. All she wanted was to spend every second staring at Bubblegum, listening to her, talking to her.

“Would you stop it with the fruit already?” She floated down and grabbed Bubblegum’s wrist before she added another orange to the basket. “You’ve already put in enough to feed a dinosaur, can’t we eat something else?”

“Like what?”

She threw her arms up, “I don’t know, it’s a picnic, Bonnie! We should be packing junk food, and sodas, and little, triangle-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts cut off.”

She raised an eyebrow, “You won’t eat any of that stuff anyway, not unless it’s red.”

“Oh, sure, if you’re going to rub _that_ in my face.”

A smile came to her lips as she tried to hold in a laugh, which brought Marceline a small sense of pride.

“I’m just saying, it never hurts to keep your nutritional options at their maximum.”

She stared. “Said the candy creator.”

Bubblegum shrugged, “Fruit _is_ candy; nature’s candy.” She pulled out a Tupperware from the fridge and smiled sympathetically to her girlfriend. “Alright, how about some carrots in lemon juice? That any better?”

Marceline’s eyes went wide for a split second before she shut them tight, and floated towards the door. “Oh man, you’re killing me, Bonnibel. Forget it, do whatever you want, I’ll just wait for you outside. Don’t take too long, either! Sitting in the shade won’t make it any less hot, you know!”

The last thing she heard before she closed the door was the sound of Bubblegum’s laughter, and as soon she was out of sight, a small smile came to her lips.

This was good; it was what she needed to ease her nerves, have everything feel like it was going back to normal. She stood at her porch where the sun couldn’t touch her, and for a minute, she could almost feel herself forgetting everything that had happened the day before, but just then, something in the distance caught her eye, and her face fell.

There he was, standing beside a large tree trunk as he silently watched Marceline from behind his black sunglasses was one of the Ministry of Sucre men. He stood straight and tall as if sure of himself, of what he was planning to do. Marceline couldn’t tell whether or not it was the same man as yesterday, but he made her just as uneasy.

It embarrassed and infuriated her to admit that she had stepped back a few steps, suddenly surprised to walk into Bubblegum as she opened the door, the basket in one hand, and a large straw hat for Marceline in the other.

“Okay, let’s go!”

She immediately turned to her, gently pushing her, “Bonnie, get back inside.”

“What? Why?”

“I’ll-I’ll explain later, just please get inside.”

Bubblegum noticed the fear in her face, and without another word, she nodded and turned back in with Marceline following quickly behind. She shut the door, and went over to the window as the princess watched her, waiting for an explanation.

“Marcy, what are you doing?”

“I just – I uh…” she carefully moved the curtains to see to the outside, and she was surprised to see that the guy was gone. It was a relief, but not enough to have her suggest they go back outside. If it wasn’t for the look on Bubblegum’s face, she would’ve preferred to have the whole thing canceled, but she really didn’t want to do that. Not just for the sake of her girlfriend, but for hers, as well.

The only thing that would kill more than losing her pride to these guys was allowing them to scare her into ruining her own relationship. They were both looking forward to being together outside today, and she wasn’t about to cower into a corner and let them toy with their plans like that.

She looked back at Bubblegum and smiled, embarrassed, “I-I underestimated how strong the sun was today.”

Bubblegum sighed, an obvious look of relief on her face as she smiled, “Well, that’s what the hat’s for, Marcy.”

The two walked away from the house, Bubblegum surging forward boldly as Marceline stayed close behind as they laughed along with each other, arguing and agreeing on almost every topic they discussed which was a normal conversation in their case. But it wasn’t as if the vampire had forgotten spotting that man earlier.

Every time she rolled her eyes at Bubblegum’s points, ruffled her hair, or fell a few steps behind, she quickly glanced around to make sure they weren’t being followed, and she tried to do so in a way that her girlfriend wouldn’t notice. When they finally arrived at a good place, Bubblegum laid out the blanket and they both sat down, but before Marceline could touch the blanket, she heard a girlfriend gasp, and her head snapped at her direction.

“What? What is it?”

But her girlfriend wasn’t facing her, she was staring wide-eyed at a flower in the distance that was growing against a strange, snow-white stone.

“Are you seeing this? This is incredible!”

She groaned, “Oh, Glob.” She sighed with relief, “It’s a plant, Bonnie.”

“With crystal petals? Don’t even get me started on this stem!”

She stuck her tongue out and turned her interest to contents of the basket, “Okay, I won’t.”

“I have to find out where this beautiful thing came from,” she said as she bent her face down to the ground to get a better look at its leaves. Marceline admitted it wasn’t a bad looking flower; with its rainbow, crystal petals, and its snow-white stem turning as is they were braids of soft, silky hair covered in specks of gold, but this kind of stuff was more of her girlfriend’s area than it was hers.

“How do you know it’s not from here?” she mindlessly asked, and silently cursed at herself, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth. Great, now she’ll never hear the end of it.

Bubblegum giggled like that was the silliest question she’d ever heard. “Oh, come on, Marcy. All you have to do is _glance_ at the growth patterns of the grass blades, and put the weather change into consideration to know that this plant obviously grows in a secluded area.”

“Obviously.”

She looked back at Marceline, “Don’t you want to come take a closer look?”

“No,” she whined. “I don’t care! I want to eat, Bonnie!”

“Okay,” she turned to the flower, “just give me a minute to –”

“Booooonnnnnniiiiieeeee!”

Bubblegum sighed as her head fell, and she nodded before standing up and dusting off her bear knees. “I’m coming right now.”

As soon as she sat down, Marceline clapped her hands together, her eyes on the basket. “Alright, Bonnibel, what have you got for me?”

She handed her a large Tupperware, “A lot of red cherries, for starters. You know, I was considering experimenting with the color, since it doesn’t seem to be traditional red, but it does have that kind of…”

Bubblegum’s voice suddenly faded to a faint blur as Marceline noticed another blue man in the distance watching them, and to her dismay, she began to notice the other two hiding in the bushes around them, and the three standing by the boulders, and the other one near the stream behind them. There wasn’t just one; there was an entire group surrounding them.

She felt her heart start to race as she picked up the form of a weapon in the men’s hands, and they were beginning to lift their aim towards… them. That’s when the threat of yesterday rung in her head again, a lot louder than the last time.

_Twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours._

“Bonnie,” she quietly said, her eyes not moving away from the men though she didn’t know who she should be watching, “take my hand very slowly.”

She stopped talking about the cherries and tilted her head, “What?”

“We’re in danger,” she said through her teeth. “I want you to grab my hand very slowly so that I can fly us out of here.”

She shook her head, not understanding whether she should be confused or annoyed at such a silly prank, but the look of fear in Marceline’s eyes proved to be true, and she realized that her girlfriend was being dead serious. She noticed the direction in which she was glancing, and with great caution, she peeked over her shoulder to see that there were men from the Ministry of Sucre watching them, weapons pointed at their direction.

She looked back at Marceline with knit eyebrows and curious eyes which – even in Bubblegum’s calm demeanor – couldn’t hide the concern. “What are they –?”

“Don’t be scared now, Princess,” she said as she used the same nickname for her that she hadn’t used in months as a way to reassure her. She gave her a fearless smile, but she would be lying if she didn’t say that it was mostly for her girlfriend’s sake than it was any kind of honest reflection of how she was feeling. “This time, _I’m_ going to handle it.”

But she never got the chance to fix the situation because even as their fingers touched, there was the sudden click of a trigger and before Marceline knew it, her princess was looking at her with wide eyes and a drop of blood trickling down her neck. She had just been shot with something.

Marceline stared with horror as the light in Bubblegum’s eyes faded in what felt like slow motion and she passed out right in front of her on the blanket, the last word on her lips being the vampire’s name.

She wanted to dive forward and cover her body with her own, stop her from getting any other injuries, try to wake her up, but just as the princess’s eyes closed, Marceline felt a slight, painful sting in her neck that last only a second before her world slowly faded to black around her. Even in her weakened state, she tried stretching her hand out to Bubblegum, but she never felt her skin after that.

As the light slowly disappeared, she watched the blue men come in and pick her up. She laid there powerless as they walked away from her, farther and farther until they were almost out of sight, and Marceline knew that had it not been for the undoubted drug spreading throughout her body, she would be in full demon mode from the rage boiling inside her.

The last bit of effort she felt in her bones before she went completely numb was her fist clenching against the blades of grass, and her jaw tightening as she felt her fangs grow and shrink back to their normal size in an instant, unable to keep them with the poison pulling her down.

“Bonnie,” she barely whispered before the sliver of light was gone, and she could feel herself slipping away into darkness. When she opened her eyes, the sun was rising, and Bubblegum was gone.

The sunrays were shining right into her eyes, forcing her to squint and look away. She groaned painfully as she forced herself to stand, but as soon as she was on her feet, she fell back down, face first into the blanket that was still laid out on the grass. Marceline looked around; everything was exactly as it was, where it was left. The cherries were spread out in a mess from falling to the ground, the basket exactly where Bubblegum had placed it with a few sticks of wrapped carrots and large cucumbers peeking out from behind the straw.

Everything was there except her princess. For a second, her memory of what had happened was foggy, and Marceline felt a rising panic in her chest.

“Whoa,” she heard a voice to her side suddenly say, and she turned to see a House Person stare at the missing space where Bubblegum was supposed to be. “That was intense.” He looked like a kitchen House, his glasses covering half of his face.

“Wait, you saw what happened?” she moved closer on her knees, unable to go any higher, “Tell me!” The House Person looked frightened for a moment, and Marceline wished she could’ve talked like her girlfriend at that moment, a voice that’s calming and persuasive. “Uh, please. I need to know.”

He still seemed hesitant, but he nodded, gesturing to a few trees in the distance. “I was just standing back there, looking for herbs for my next dish, and I saw the whole thing. You both passed out, and I was coming to check if you were okay, but then these large men came out, and I got scared.”

“Large men?” she narrowed her eyes. “Then what?”

“Well, they left _you_ alone, but one of them held the pink-haired girl in his arms, and they all walked off. She didn’t seem happy with it though; she looked tired, but I know I saw her kicking and shaking her arms. I think she was trying to hit him, but she was too out of it.”

They had taken her and walked off? Marceline remembered that. It was extremely hazy, but that was what she remembered last. Her girlfriend’s passed out body being lifted away once she was about to black out herself. She got so angry that she felt as if she was starting to see red. How dare they take her?! How dare they _touch_ her?! As angry as she was, that’s how afraid she was as well. The sun was rising, but the sun was already up when they were out here.

“You,” she snapped at the House Person, “when did this happen?”

“Y-Yesterday, Miss. I was too afraid to leave until you woke up yourself. My conscience wouldn’t allow me, I’m afraid.” He said it as if it was one of the worst decisions he had ever made, but then his face changed to one of hesitance, and he tilted his head, as much as a House Person could. “But you know, that girl has a remarkable resemblance to Princess Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom.” He nervously chuckled and dismissed it right away, “That’s impossible, of course. Why would the princess be all the way out here?”

He kept giggling to himself as he walked away, but Marceline couldn’t find a reason to smile. Though it pained her immensely, she forced herself up again, breathing hard as she felt the muscles in her arms vibrate. What had they shot her with? She fell down once again, grunting as she hit the ground, but she took another breath, and tried to focus her energy on floating instead. It was difficult, to levitate herself without having strength in her body, but she managed to do it, and as soon as she was in the air, she made a beeline for the one place she knew Bubblegum would be.

She went as fast as she could, which given her state, was pretty quick, though not as much as she’d hoped she’d be. Nonetheless, she made it to the Candy Kingdom in almost ten minutes, and made her way straight to the castle. When she made it, she turned around the back, someplace where she knew a Gumball Guard wasn’t watching.

The security was unusually low, which was strange, since she knew that if they had brought Bubblegum back here, they would’ve figured that Marceline was coming to take her back. Why didn’t they seem worried?

As soon as she touched the pink walls, she slid all the way down to the ground, unable to hold herself up anymore. She stuck herself against the castle when she heard two Gumball Guards speaking nearby. It was best for her to try floating up to Bubblegum’s window like she used to so she could grab her girlfriend and go, but their conversation had caught her attention.

“You saw her, right? Tell me you saw her!”

“I didn’t only see her, I _heard_ her speaking, too!” the other said, just as excited as his friend.

“I’m telling you, man, it’s about time. I didn’t know how much longer I could’ve handled the kingdom with all those Candy Senate hoo-has running us into the ground.”

“I know what you mean. No one’s fit to lead this kingdom but the one who created it.”

Another throbbing pain suddenly hit Marceline in her ribs, and she closed her eyes tight as she tried keeping her voice quiet. When she finally managed to open her eyes, she wasted no time to lift herself off the ground and fly up to the tall window where she was now certain Bubblegum was being kept.

She reached the frame covered in candy flower pots, and slowly moved one aside as she peeked into the room. At first, she saw nothing but Bubblegum’s large, tiny pink room, the only sound to be heard was the cat clock on the wall, ticking. The room smelled of Bubblegum and Candy, just as her princess did, and for a moment, Marceline felt a sense of nostalgia for the days that she would sneak in here to be with Bubblegum. Everything looked just as it always had, like she never left which the vampire saw as bittersweet.

Then, just as she was about to float inside, she heard the front door open, and her heart skipped a beat. There she was, walking into her room was her Bonnibel, but she wasn’t dressed in one of her handmade dresses. Instead, she was wearing that pink and purple sports dress that she was so often known for wearing, the one that came a few inches above her knees along with her pink slippers.

Now, _that_ was nostalgic. Bubblegum rubbed at her eyes as she closed the door, obviously tired, but unwilling to let her servants see.

Marceline couldn’t take the suspension any longer, so as soon as her door was shut, she flew through the window, suddenly feeling more energy than she had had all day, and she floated up to her. “Bonnie!”

Bubblegum saw her and gasped, her back hitting the door.

“Princess?” a muffled voice came from outside the room, most likely belonging to Peppermint Butler. “Are you alright?”

Bubblegum kept her eyes on Marceline, cautious.

The vampire put her finger to her lips as if to say _don’t answer_ , and she smiled apologetically, “Sorry I snuck up on you. That was my bad. And I’m sorry I’m late, too, but I’m here now, and I’m going to get you out. Don’t worry.”

Bubblegum stared at her blankly, her surprised face turned to one that Marceline couldn’t read, which was rare for her. The princess’s eyes traveled to the bruising on her arms and face that resulted from bumping into so many boulders and bricks on the way up here, and the black-haired girl noticed.

She glanced at the purple spots and shrugged them off with one shoulder. “Hey, it’s nothing. I’m fine. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Princess,” the muffled voice came again, a tone of worry clear in his tone after he tried to open the door but failed, “I’m going to get the guards.”

Before Bubblegum had a chance to say anything, Marceline grabbed her hand hurriedly and said, “Okay, come on, we got to go. Quick.”

She began to float off, but was abruptly stopped, and looked down to notice that Bubblegum was standing her ground, refusing to move.

Marceline knit her eyebrows and floated down lower, “What’s wrong?” Bubblegum didn’t answer. She just stared at Marceline with narrowed eyes. “Look, I’m okay, really. I have more than enough strength to fly us out of here, so let’s go.”

She tried pulling again, but Bubblegum pulled back, and this time, she didn’t humor her either. The princess forcefully pulled her hand out of Marceline’s and stepped back.

“Bonnie, what are you doing?” she said as she floated down to her feet, the pain completely ignored.

At that moment, two Gumball Guards stormed through the door, their weapons pointed at Marceline as they identified her.

“Princess!” Peppermint Butler came running and pulled her back.

“I’m alright, I’m fine.”

“Bonnie?” Marceline said, staring at her with disbelieving eyes.

“Don’t speak to the princess, Vampire,” one of the guards said, prodding his weapon at her face. She hissed at him angrily, and only at the sound of Bubblegum’s voice did she turn her eyes away.

“Wait,” Bubblegum said before she walked up to Marceline, their eyes never leaving each other’s, and she tilted her head. “Tell me; why do you call me Bonnie?”

Marceline’s brows knit as she thought about that question. She shook her head, “You’re kidding, right? I’ve always called you that.”

“Always?” she frowned, then a look of realization hit her face. “Oh, I think I get it now. You poor thing, you have me confused with someone else.”

A moment of silence, then, “What?”

Bubblegum shrugged with one shoulder, her eyes and smile both sincerely apologetic, “Well, yeah. You have to know deep down, don’t you? That we’ve never met before?”

Marceline’s heart dropped. “Never… met before?”

She shook her head slowly, as if trying to give her time to process. “No, I’m sure I would’ve remembered you. I’m sorry, but I-I don’t know who you are.”

Her hands shook. They did something to her, something way worse than Marceline could’ve ever expected. They didn’t just kidnap her and force her into the castle. They erased Marceline from her memory so that she never had a reason to leave.

“No,” she whispered, her face horrified as she felt her eyes sting. “They can’t do that. They can’t.”

“They?” Bubblegum heard, appearing to taking a real interest in the situation. “Did someone take your friend away?” She put her hands on her shoulders and said, “Tell me who they are, I’ll send the greatest champions to save her. I’ll get her back for you.”

Marceline looked up at her face, her own eyes already betraying her as she felt large tears fall down her cheeks. She placed her hands over the one on her shoulder and shook her head, “You have to-You have to remember me, Bonnie.”

Peppermint Butler’s eyes widened, and raised his hand to the guards. “Sh-She’s delusional. Get her out of here, now!”

Bubblegum looked surprised at the order, but she didn’t object to it as she let her hands go to her chest.

“No! You can’t let them do this!” She shook in the arms of the guards who pulled her out of the room, her pain returning and forbidding her from using her full strength. “You can’t let them erase me! You have to remember!”

But even as she screamed, she knew Bubblegum couldn’t hear her. She was too far out of the room, and the princess was turning to speak with Peppermint Butler the last she saw of her. She really felt nothing looking into her eyes, she had no idea who she was talking to.

The last thing Marceline could remember thinking before she was thrown outside the kingdom, passed out from the pain was that she would’ve rather let Bubblegum walk back on her own than have this happen. This time, it wasn’t just a bad dream; she’d really lost her.

***

Bubblegum couldn’t remember much when she woke up. All she knew was that she had overworked herself again, but unlike all the other times, she didn’t just bounce back after a couple of hours’ rest. Apparently, she fell seriously ill for weeks, stuck in almost a coma in her room as no one was left to take care of the Candy Kingdom. At least, that’s what everyone had told her.

It infuriated her, the idea of being so weak that she couldn’t handle a few extra hours of work, but she was happy to be up and awake again, though she didn’t feel as someone who’s woken up from a coma would. She didn’t feel like she’d been in her room this entire time.

It was different this time though, being in her bed. It _felt_ different, like when someone goes on vacation for a long time, sleeping on a strange mattress, under a strange blanket, their head on a strange pillow, and then, they come back and lay out on _their_ mattress, under _their_ blanket, their head on _their_ pillow.

She did wake up slightly pained, but recovered very quickly with the help of her servants. She may still have been experiencing a few moments of burning muscles or nausea, but it was nothing she hadn’t faked through before.

As she lay at the royal meeting room that day, reading over several construction and personal matter forms that required her signature before lunch, she thought about how long she’d been gone. It mortified her that she was out of the kingdom for nearly a whole month! All she thought about was how her poor Candy People had to have suffered with no one other than the Candy Senate to look things over.

Glob, why had she created them? They were supposed to keep things under control in case she was ever out of the Kingdom for long, but everything Bubblegum had seen since she returned was destruction. The Candy People barely had enough to eat, the Gumball Guards and warriors were all sent out on pointless missions when there was a far greater need for them in the kingdom, and family members and friends were going missing apparently.

She stopped writing for a minute as she thought about that girl that had come in through her window a couple of hours ago. She had looked so distraught; how could the senate allow anyone in Ooo to become that upset? There was something about her that Bubblegum couldn’t quite put her finger on, but the more she thought about it, the less she’d figure out. She made a mental note to have that girl’s situation looked into, and pushed the thought aside for the present to focus on her royal duties.

Later on, when she was finally done with the paperwork, barely able to feel her hand, she was served a fairly small lunch due to the great shortage of food, and her stomach rumbled as she thought of how small the Candy People’s meals must be. She ate quickly, wanting to get to her schedule for the rest of the day.

There was Peppermint Butler who insisted she get some rest after her long absence and traumatic experience, but she repeated that she was fine and had enough energy to run around the kingdom a hundred times. She really didn’t. In fact, she had never felt so drained in her life, but there were too many things that needed to get done around the kingdom.

So, first thing after she ate, she stood, feeling enough of a surge of energy flow through her to get her plans for the day done, and she walked out of the castle with a guard and Peppermint Butler at her side.

“First thing’s first,” she said as Peppermint Butler took notes on his small notebook. “We need to have the matter of food addressed. The Candy People won’t be allowed to starve for another minute. What do you suggest?”

“Well, your majesty, we’ve had several ideas of a gathering with some of the other kingdoms, but no plans were ever made. The gatherings were rarely spoken of in the past few months, with all the other issues left to deal with.”

She frowned, “I see.”

Bubblegum bowed her head once in salute to all the Candy People that had gathered from their homes to watch her. Some Candy Children came running up to her, and she bent down to hug them. They all looked so much more drained than she remembered, and she could feel a nail being driven into her heart. With a smile and a pat to the head, she put them down and spoke to her butler.

“Peppermint Butler, no more delays. Arrange a gathering with Wildberry Princess, Breakfast Princess, and Water Princess for tonight. I’ll have a discussion with them about the situation in the Candy Kingdom and try to get them to help, just until our resources are reestablished.”

Peppermint Butler smiled and wrote it down. “Yes, Princess.”

“Also, have a carriage ready to take me to the Veggie People in the afternoon. Surely, without enough water in the kingdom, they’d need help as well. I want to see to it that they get everything they need.”

“Yes, Princess, very well.”

“Welcome back, Princess Bubblegum!” some of the younger Candy People somewhere off to the side said out loud to be heard over the others’ happy mumbling to each other.

“Thank you,” she giggled as she finally found the children.

One of them stepped forward, her eyes large and concerned as he asked, “You’re not leaving again, right?”

“Leaving?” Bubblegum asked before some of the elder Candy People’s eyes went wide and they came forward, putting their hands on the child’s mouth. She turned to Peppermint Butler. “Where did I go?”

“Uh,” he led her away from the crowd, and whispered carefully, “Your Majesty, I’m afraid the Candy People aren’t fully aware of what’s happened.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, we didn’t want to worry them by telling them that you were ill, so we lied to them. They think you’ve been out on a mission with other heroes for the sake of the kingdom the past several months- uh- _weeks_.” He immediately waved his hands as he added, “B-But we only did what we thought you would’ve wanted, Princess.”

“Oh, well,” a small, satisfied smile came to her lips as she nodded, “good call. Panic was the last thing we needed.” She petted his head, “Well done, Peppermint Butler.”

He bowed his head once, a pleased smile on his face, “Thank you, Princess.”

Bubblegum smiled, but inside, her mind was racing with questions. Did her butler, her own creation honestly believe she couldn’t tell when he was lying? She didn’t want her most loyal servant to be trying to fool her, but why couldn’t he just tell the truth? What was he hiding? Had something happened while she was unable to rule that was so awful, she had to be lied to about it?

She was suddenly shaken out of her thoughts when she felt her leg being shaken. She looked down and giggled as she saw Crunchy slowly trying to climb her. She bent down and picked him up in her arms.

“Crunchy!”

“Glob!” he hugged her, trying to poke the side of her head where she immediately hissed in pain at the touch. “They poked you.”

She breathed out as the throbbing quickly subsided, and she slight chuckled, “What?”

“Princess,” Peppermint Butler said immediately, and pulled her farther away from the crowd as they slowly started to walk away, I wanted to discuss with you the matter of your coronation.”

“My coronation?” she asked, then her eyes went wide when she realized what had been missing; it was her crown. She wasn’t wearing it.

Her butler nodded, “Yes. Due to your absence, your leadership status was technically taken away.”

She slapped her forehead, “Oh Glob, I forgot about that rule. How could I forget it? I’m the one that wrote it down.”

It was annoying, but that was one of the several laws of the Candy Kingdom she had decided on, and for good reason, too. If anything ever happened, and the ruler (a.k.a. Bubblegum) was unable to rule for a certain period of time, the kingdom would have the freedom to choose another king or queen so that they wouldn’t be left without anyone in charge for too long.

“But, wait,” she said as she realized something, “that duration period is at least eight months, and I’ve only been out for, like, one.”

He blinked several times and looked away, “Y-Yes, you have, Princess, but you see, the situation had gotten so bad that we were unable to handle waiting any longer, so legally, you were dethroned a week ago.”

There it was again; that feeling that he was lying to her face. Why?

She sighed, “That makes sense. Alright, when can a coronation be arranged?”

He smiled, nodding towards his notebook to show that had already been written down, “If we get to work on it now, we can have you back in your crown by tomorrow morning.”

“Good, let’s do that. In the meantime,” she narrowed her eyes, “I want to take a look at the citizen scroll, make sure everyone’s accounted for.”

That night, after a long day of reading, double-checking, visiting, listening to concerns, and thinking up solutions that could help, the princess returned to the castle exhausted, though where she went straight away wasn’t her room. Instead, she went to her favorite place in the entire kingdom; her lab.

The feeling she had putting on her scientist coat was indescribable. She knew it had only been a few weeks since she wore it, but it felt like years. When she walked up to her beakers and bottles, her various chemicals – some already known to most while some were of Bubblegum’s own creation – she could feel her cheeks heat up and her eyes sting.

Her eyes widened, and she reached up to her cheek to find that it was wet. Surprised, she turned away from her experiments as if not wanting to let them see her in that state, and wiped the tears away with the back of her hands.

 _This is so dumb_ , she thought as her faced scrunched. Why was she crying? It didn’t make any sense; she had no reason to be upset. Maybe it was because of the guilt she felt at not being careful enough, and being forced to leave her kingdom defenseless for so long.

 _That was the only plausible excuse_ , she thought as she finally dried her eyes off and let out a deep breath to calm herself. With a nod, she took a blue tie out of her desk and pulled her hair back, then put on her glasses.

She took a minute to stretch, feeling right in her costume. As the princess, she should’ve been asleep to wake up early and get to other matters of the kingdom that still needed to be dealt with before the situation returned to normal, but a princess wasn’t all she was. Bubblegum was a scientist, first and foremost, an inventor. Her passion was creation, turning nothing into something special, fixing the bad and making it good. She wanted to change things, grow with them, and keep learning, just like she had done with so many small pieces of candy that were now living people with a mind and heart of their own.

She could never forget the day she perfected the Candy Life formula, after so many failures, it was a success well worth the time, effort, and heartbreak, but no matter for those days anymore. The small kingdom she had created had come such a long way since then, and she couldn’t be any prouder of its people. They were more than just her creations or followers; they were the family that she could count on and trust to make the right decision no matter what.

Her hands froze on the beakers that she had been holding when she thought of that word, _trust_. That took her back to the lies her Peppermint Butler had told her when they were strolling through town several hours ago. In her heart, she believed he was doing it for a good reason, a reason she couldn’t understand, but as a scientist, she hated not understanding.

She sighed as she thought about the worst case scenario. If something dreadful had really happened, what difference did it make now? She was awake, and she was ready to get her kingdom back to the way it was. Maybe the butler was just trying to spare her heart from some tragedy she couldn’t have to done anything about anyway. Whatever was in the past was going to stay in the past, and she was probably better off not jumping back. When she thought about it like that, it seemed reasonable and enough of a reason for her not to worry about it.

And it probably _would’ve_ been enough… if she wasn’t a scientist.

***

Marceline’s eyelids felt heavy as she struggled to open them. Bubblegum didn’t seem to be this exhausted when she saw her. At the thought of her girlfriend, her eyes snapped open and she sat up.

“Bonnie!” the second she was up, she hissed in pain, and to her surprise, there was someone there beside her with their hands on her shoulders, pushing her back down.

“Easy,” Peppermint Butler said, “Don’t sit up that quick.”

When she felt the ground beneath her, she realized she was laid out on a sofa with a very familiar smell, and soon enough discovered that she was in her house.

She groaned, but as soon as she realized who it is, her eyes narrowed, “ _You_. You’re the one that had Bonnibel’s guards kick me out.”

He looked away hesitantly, toying with the lower hem of the rob he hung around his shoulders, then back at her, the look on his face exasperated. “Well, what did you want me to do? Let you stay and give up everything to the princess? I couldn’t do that!”

“What?” she turned over and leaned on her elbow to face him. “You know the truth?”

“Of course I know the truth. Everyone in the Candy Kingdom knows the truth, and we only found out the _whole_ truth a few weeks ago.”

“What do you mean the _whole_ truth?”

He looked away, unable to answer, but Marceline growled at him, her face turning to that of an angry demon’s. It was only for a split second, but it was enough to make Peppermint Butler jump. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared at the ground, then sighed, “I’ll tell you, but I must warn you, it’s not pretty.”

He helped Marceline sit up before anything else, placing two throw pillows behind her back, and made his way to the end of the couch where she lifted him up to sit.

He nodded to her, “Thank you,” then closed his fists in his lap and started. “It all began nine months ago, when the Cotton Committee held one of its rarest meetings ever in the Candy Kingdom. Those meetings are big, and I mean, really big. The last time they held something like this was when the princess created the Candy Life formula. Surely, you know what that is.”

She nodded, feeling her heart beat with pride for her girlfriend and that phenomenal creation. “Of course.”

“Yes, well, this time they wanted a meeting about what to do with the relationship between Her Royal Majesty and you. The princess wanted to hold an announcement for the entire kingdom to hear, she wanted everyone to know how important you were to her, but the Ministry of Sucre – Glob save us – wouldn’t stand for it, said that Princess Bubblegum being in love with a female vampire was _inappropriate_ and a… _disgrace_ to the kingdom she had built. They called her unfit to rule.

“The princess was outraged at their words, and the whole thing turned to this big, heated argument. Princess Bubblegum talked about how she’d created and cared for the kingdom more than what was ever required of her, that she loved the Candy People, and would never do anything to injure or tarnish their good name.” Peppermint Butler closed his eyes as if to find strength to continue, and he said, “That’s when the Ministry of Sucre spoke up, and these people are crafty, they can make Cinnamon Bun seem like an evil mastermind. Anyway, they said that being who you were, and your… father being who he was, you had the power to get inside anyone’s head and make them do what you wanted, even fall in love.

“The princess was the first to deny this, of course. She said that she hadn’t fallen in love with you at first sight, but she felt it grow for years before she was sure, and there was no hypnosis that can slowly turn emotions of friendship to something stronger. _Not scientifically void_ , as I remember her put it.

“The ministry men wouldn’t quit, though. Finally, they brought in their last resort; a declaration of war.”

“Wait,” Marceline interrupted, confused as ever, “a war by the ministry itself? They don’t have an entire kingdom, what could they possibly do?”

Peppermint Butler stared with wide eyes, “You don’t know? The last war these men declared got so big, it led to the largest battle ever seen in Ooo.”

“Which battle?”

He leaned in to whisper, as if afraid that mentioning the name out loud would bring bad luck, “The Mushroom War.”

Marceline’s felt her heart drop. “The Mushroom War?”

She still remembered what the after-effects of the Mushroom War on Ooo looked like; the destroyed homes and buildings, the scared adults and children alike searching for a place to hide, losing her precious friend when he tried to save her from being attacked.

The butler noticed the look of horror in her face as he nodded, “They’ll pull at other kingdom’s resources, leave the people to starve, and eventually, they’ll all turn on the Candy Kingdom. The princess will be blamed for everything. The Candy people will form rebellions against their neighboring towns to keep Princess Bubblegum safe, and before you know it –”

“- it’s an all-out Mushroom War all over again.”

He nodded. “Princess Bubblegum was given an ultimatum; either keep the kingdom and leave you, or keep you and leave the kingdom. She made the choice no one expected. After she walked away, we all thought that’d be the last we’d see of her, but the head of the ministry stood and gave us no information other than the fact that the princess would be back in a couple of months.

“Then, several weeks later, they come into the castle, asking me how long she knew you, and how many years back your relationship went. When I said it was several years before I was created, they did not seem happy, and until a short while ago, that was the last I’d heard from them.”

“The monsters,” she said, realization hitting her. “They wanted to know how many years to erase.” He looked away, but she asked, “But, what did you mean when you said you had figured out the whole truth?”

He blushed, “Well, I don’t know if you know this, but about a year ago, a while after the princess had created the Earl of Lemongrab, he went insane and tried to create Candy People like she had.”

“Yeah, Bonnie told me about that. He stole the Candy Life formula, didn’t he?”

“Yes, and so, to safely stop him from creating any more, she invented something to erase the formula from his mind; a potion. They had wanted to use it on the princess to erase any memory she had of you, but she had known you for years, and the potion alone couldn’t differentiate between what needed to be kept and what needed to be taken out, so they worked relentlessly for months, bringing in the best scientists from all over Ooo and beyond that would create a crystal to help channel the direction of the potion in the princess’s brain. They kept promising us that she would return, but they needed time.

“At first, we were all willing to do whatever it took because, truth be told, we didn’t think you cared about her,” he said, his eyes turning lower towards the ground. “We all thought you were keeping her with you as a cruel joke towards the Candy Kingdom that you’ve always mocked, but a few weeks ago, Lady Rainicorn spoke with me. She told me about how the two of you met when you were kids and how you had grown attached to her for years, how you’d helped her, and saved her multiple times.

“When I realized that that, I knew your feelings for her were pure, and the entire kingdom knew as well. But it was too late. By then, the crystal was ready, and the plan to retrieve the princess was already in process. We couldn’t stop it, and we were watched so no one was allowed out of the kingdom to warn you. When I got to finally see her again, her memory was already gone, and she had no idea who Marceline Abadeer was.”

Marceline felt her throat swell as she asked, “Then, why won’t you let me tell her the truth? Maybe she’ll remember.”

“Yes, she very well may, but I won’t do it.”

“Why not?” she growled.

“Because she could die!” he finally said, leaving the vampire frozen for a moment.

“What?”

He sighed, his face grieved, “The potion is extremely unstable, Princess Bubblegum said so herself when she created it. She was grateful that all she had to erase from Lemongrab’s mind was a single, _recent_ memory. If she hadn’t been so worried about the life formula falling into the wrong hands again, she would’ve destroyed that potion a long time ago. What the princess was robbed of wasn’t the same as Lemongrab; it was a long, _deep_ , _sentimental memory_ that affected her _heart_ , of all things! If she thinks about the spaces in her brain that were meant to be destroyed, it could be too much of a strain, and both her mind and body could explode!”

Marceline’s fists trembled on her lap as she felt her own heart turn to dust. What was she hearing? How could she believe that, what, she had _no_ chance of getting her girlfriend back at all? She wanted to fly back to the castle, kiss Bubblegum and tell her that they’re supposed to be in love, but… what if what she said really affected her safety? She remembered seeing the way Peppermint Butler jumped forward to stop Marceline from explaining anything, the look of fear on his face in case his princess thought of anything she said as familiar.

How had this happened so quickly? She was just next to her, telling her about a flower and investigating the true color palette of a cherry and within seconds, she was gone. How had that happened?

She wished there was something she could say, something she could scream to express how she was feeling, how devastated she was, how much she wanted to strangle everyone, but the only person she talked about things like her _feelings_ to… doesn’t remember her.

At that moment, the idea that Bonnibel Bubblegum didn’t know who she was hit her, really hit her, and she felt herself unable to breath.

_What am I going to do?_

She panicked, Peppermint Butler’s voice as he asked her if she was okay out of range.

_I don’t know how to fix this. What am I going to do?_

“Miss Marceline!” she lifted her head at the sound of her name, and only just realized that she was hugging herself.

He waited for her to say something, but after realizing that she was just going to maintain her silence, he sighed sadly.

“Miss Marceline, the princess is having her coronation tomorrow morning. Everything’s been set, everyone in the kingdom is coming. All that’s left is to –”

“- make sure I don’t come in and ruin it,” she continued grimly, then slowly shook her head with whatever energy she had left. “Well, I can’t do anything about that now, can I? You said so yourself; I love her.”

Peppermint Butler had nothing else he had to say so he silently walked out of Marceline’s house, leaving her to stare blankly at the wall.

 _You’re acting silly, Marceline_ , she could hear her princess say if she could see her now. _It’s not like I’m dead._

 _But it feels like you are, Bonnie. I can’t touch you, I can’t kiss you, I can’t look you in the eyes and watch them sparkle when I tell you how much I love you, something I almost never say. Now I wish I’d said it more. Maybe then it wouldn’t be so easy to forget. You’re_ not _dead, Bonnie… but it feels like you are._

***

That morning, Bubblegum woke up the same way she always did, with her cat clock poking its soft claws at her. Something felt strange that morning, though. She felt unusually happy. It wasn’t new to her, not at all. She usually woke up with a joy to see the people of the kingdom, but today, she felt refreshed, as if everything she ever had on her mind had disappeared, and now, there was nothing left but a clean white page, waiting to be written on.

She jumped out of bed and stretched before walking to her closet, but as soon as her hands touched the handles to pull them open, she felt her heart stop a split second, and she lost breath. She instantly let go, her eyes glued to the wooden box as she slowly stepped back, trying to get her heart rate to normal.

The same thing as before, when she had tried opening it yesterday. What was the matter with her? Why couldn’t she open her own closet? She leaned closer to the handle, narrowing her eyes as she turned her head around to examine it better. Maybe it had a shock device planted on the inside? But the dress maids didn’t seem effected yesterday when they pulled her dress out, and besides, no one had the power to do something like that but her… maybe that’s what she was working on so hard before going into a coma. There was another piece of information she couldn’t recall.

“Princess?” she suddenly heard Peppermint Butler say, and she slightly jumped at the surprise. She saw him standing at her door, eying her cautiously, but she just chuckled nervously and waved.

“No worries, I just can’t decide what to wear, is all.”

He looked around awkwardly as if he was afraid she had forgotten something important. “Well, the c-coronation _is_ in a couple of hours, Your Majesty, and you have your gown fitting right after breakfast, so…”

“Right!” she nodded confidently for the sake of her friend. “Sure, I know. No need for any appropriate clothing yet, I suppose.” He nodded, a nervous smile on his face, and she turned from the closet and walked out the front door past him with a sudden sense of enthusiasm. “Alright, let’s do this!”

The coronation preparation, if she was being her inner girl, was one of her favorite things to do as it was one of the occasional chances that she had to feel like an actual princess, inside and out. Sometimes, she was a teacher, she was a leader, she was a warrior, or she was a real girl, but as maidens painted her nails, and did her makeup, and fixed her hair – as she could feel the Candy People she loved so much gathering outside the palace, impatiently waiting to watch the ruler they chose get crowned, it was at these moments that Princess Bubblegum wasn’t one of those things; she was all of them, and the people saw that.

She had almost forgotten what it felt like to be crowned, since it was so long ago, but she liked it. It felt different than just a day of being pampered, it felt special.

“Oh, you look so beautiful, Princess,” one of the Candy Maidens said with a look of admiration once the dress was on.

Bubblegum looked at herself in the mirror, and she nodded as she awkwardly said, “Looks good.”

It wasn’t like she thought she was ugly or anything, she knew she was pretty, but she didn’t know how to say that in a way that sounded ladylike. It was just too weird.

“Your Majesty,” Peppermint Butler came in and bowed, a large smile on his face. “It’s time.”

The Gumball Guardians walked tall as four of them stood around the princess and her escorts, their weapons in hand. The trees were decorated with pink and red sashes, pieces of candy, and tiny pink lights that made the trees look like they were sprinkled with glitter. The path leading to the stage was outlined with long strips of cherry licorice, and just behind that, there were rows of marshmallow flowers. And then there was the wide pedestal where she was assigned to stand which was a snow-white color from the bottom, and then near the top, there was a pink, frosting like decoration along with small pieces of shredded gold on the top, making the whole thing resemble a large cupcake.

Their stood at the foot of the pedestal, smiling at her through his overgrown glasses was the Candy Priest waiting with two of his men behind him; one holding a rainbow gumball, and the other, a large ice cream cone with gold lining on the both of them creating a beautiful pattern.

The princess came forward and smiled respectfully as the two of them bowed to each other, and she could hear the gasps from the large crowd as she was helped onto the cupcake pedestal, causing her to blush.

It was illogical of her to be scared, she knew that. After all, this entire coronation was just for formalities, but it was important because she knew that, deep down, she wouldn’t be Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum without her crown. Maybe that’s why her heart was beating so quickly – because she knew how much this meant to her. But even as she thought about that, she found that the coronation was starting to mean something else, too. It seemed like she was seconds away from changing something in her life, though she couldn’t tell what that was.

At the moment the candy priest began his speech, she felt herself see every face in the large crowd of the Candy People individually, and so clearly as if she was standing right in front of them. She saw their faces as they smiled at her, and she felt their hearts as they poured them out to her.

The priest then spoke the oath to which everyone in the kingdom was well aware of after so many classes that Bubblegum took on herself to teach them, and as he recited it, she kneeled, her large pink gown gently flowing down the sides of the pedestal, the purple ribbon tied around her waist coming all the way down to her legs.

At one point, near the end, the priest placed the sacred gumball and ice cream in each hand of the princess, after which he asked, “Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of the Candy Kingdom. According to the statues and parliament agreed on, and the respective laws and custom of the same?

“Will you, in your power, cause law and justice and mercy to be executed in all judgements?”

“I solemnly promise so to do.”

He turned to the pink cushion where her crown lay, and carefully lifted it. The circular open sphere shined of gold other than the blue-green emerald that shined at the front. The Candy Priest brought it forward over the princess and stood behind her, the crown lifted high above her head with the emerald facing the crowd.

It all seemed to go in slow motion from that point on. The moment the Candy Priest lowered his hands, and she could feel the warm gold touch her head.

“Presenting Her Majesty Bonnibel Bubblegum, Princess of the Candy Kingdom!”

A large smile came to her lips as she slowly stood, the crowd erupting into the loudest cheer and applause she’d ever heard. Her crown was where it belonged, and for a moment, she felt as if her heart would jump out of her chest. She felt at home.

Then something in the distance caught her eye. Behind a tree, a little girl stood staring at her. Bubblegum found herself unable to remove her eyes from her as she watched the black-haired child watch her from so far away, but she looked at her as if she knew her. The princess slightly narrowed her eyes at her, enough so that the others wouldn’t notice her concentration, and so she could get a better look.

The child held something in her arms, but she couldn’t quite make out what it was; a monkey? A bear? It looked like a sewn-up doll of some sort, but she couldn’t make out the image too clearly.

What was she doing there all alone? She didn’t look like a Candy Person, definitely not one Bubblegum had ever created. Was there a reason she was standing all the by that tree as if she was scared? Why wasn’t she coming any closer?

At the several question, Bubblegum got a slight pain in the back of her head. She tried keeping her face straight so that no one would be able to tell, and she blinked several times as if that would fan away the sting, but it wouldn’t go away.

It was only until the sudden loud crash that she forgot about the pain, and the cheering abruptly stopped. Everyone’s head snapped to the big explosion beside the castle which was large enough to cause scathe marks on the walls, but not enough to destroy anything.

Two Gumball Guards as well as Peppermint Butler all ran to stand in front of the princess as a blue, elderly man with a long white beard came flying out into the open. His sharp crown shined dangerously in the sunlight as his malicious snarl revealed his several shark teeth.

“My dear, Princess Bubblegum! Sorry to burst in, but my invitation seems to have gotten lost in the mail!”

Her fists tightened, “Ice King, you Blob Head! I command you to leave at once! You’re not welcome here!”

His eyes faked innocence, “Bubblegum, my love, how could you speak like that to _me_? Your darling king?”

“Don’t make me sick!”

His smile twitched and he growled, “My princess, don’t get disrespectful now. You’re starting to hurt my feelings.”

“Guards!” Peppermint Butler said, his voice strong as he covered Bubblegum, “Protect the princess!”

They stood in a fight stance, pointed their weapons at the Ice King, and prepared to strike, but he showed no retaliation or fear. Instead, he snorted and snapped his fingers, and just then, several large icicles struck out from the ground around Bubblegum and everyone that was circling her was sent flying off in opposite directions, wounded and cold.

She gasped, checking to see if her friends were alright. As soon as her eyes landed on the terrified crowd, she called out, “Go! Run to safety!” They hesitated a moment, some frozen in fear, and the princess put more command and strength in her voice. “GO!”

They all seemed to snap back and without another word, they all began to run away in crowds to their homes as Bubblegum turned her attention back to the Ice King, her eyes flared.

“Oh, come on, Princess,” he floated down and leaned against one of the large blocks of ice he’d created, his chin on his staff, “don’t look at me like that. You know, I think you’re just having the wrong perspective on things. If you just get to know me, I swear, you’ll come to love me, just as I love you.”

She remained silent, her face strong though inside, she began to feel concerned. Her guards were gone and no matter how she calculated it, she couldn’t find a way of escaping this ice prison except by going up, which is exactly where the Ice King would be waiting to grab onto her. But even if she stood still, he could still lean down and pull her out. She was trapped.

“Now, come on, our wedding guests are waiting,” he said fondly as he reached his hand down to hers, but she just backed up against the ice, immediately feeling the icy sting run down her back, causing her to shiver, and she wished the gown didn’t openly leave her shoulders bear. She hugged herself tightly to keep herself warm as he nudged out his hand again, “Come on.”

“F-Forget it, I-Ice Prick.”

He frowned and floated back, his eyes unreadable as he stared at Bubblegum. “You’re lucky, you know. If you weren’t so precious to me, I’d let you freeze to death right here.” He sighed, “Well, I suppose we’re going to have to do this the hard way.” The Ice King’s eyes suddenly turned cold, and he raised his staff over his shoulder.

The princess knew what would come next; he would force her into an ice prison that he could just pick up and take with him. She tried to step away, but there was nowhere left to move, and she could feel herself getting colder already.

Suddenly, there came a loud scream and the glistening of a sword high above the Ice King. He noticed Bubblegum staring, and he turned.

“What? What are you staring –”

But he didn’t have the chance to see what she had because before he could completely turn around, the shining object in the distance shot forward, revealing itself to be a sword, and punched the Ice King right in the face, sending him flying backwards.

“Ha!” the owner of the large sword landed on the back of his dog who seemed to have a small body, but long, outstretched legs that reached the ground all the way to the top of the ice. “Take that, Ice King!”

“Finn!” Bubblegum smiled, though she the memory of meeting the boy was extremely vague, she was surprised how well her heart had recognized him.

“That’ll teach you to stop kidnapping princesses!”

He wiped at his cheek, and snarled, “Great! You two again! Why do you keep interfering with my business?!”

Finn pointed his finger at him accusingly, “Because your plans to force princesses into marrying you are SICK, you Egg Hole!”

His dog Jake raised one of his fists, “Enough talk! Let’s kick his butt, Finn!”

The two nodded once at each other, Finn’s grip around the hilt of his sword tightening. With one leap of the dog’s back, he managed to fly high, towering over the Ice King who seemed to already know how this fight would end.

“That seems inviting, boys, it really does, but I think I’ll just bow out now,” he said his last words as he waved his arm at them with great force which created a wind that didn’t push Finn and Jake back, but it did slow their attack enough for the Ice King to disappear in a small gust of strong wind.

The boy landed on one of the large blocks of ice, immediately jumping off and onto Jake’s back as it melted with its creator’s exit. After a few minutes, the ice was gone, but Princess Bubblegum still felt it slip through her back and she shivered.

“Finn, Jake,” she came up to them, “My flawless champions. Thank you for saving me.”

Finn blushed and scratched the back of his head, “Aw, shucks, PB, anything for you. I’m really glad to see you back in the Candy Kingdom, though. Last time, when we asked you, you never answered. We, well, _I_ was worried for a while there.”

That’s right, she recalled; when she met them at the river last month, before she had fallen into a coma, though it didn’t feel that long since she had seen them. All she knew for sure was that they second she laid eyes on Finn, she knew there was something special about him, and that he’d be a dear friend in no time. Now, she was sure.

She smiled apologetically, “I apologize for last time, the way I ran off like that all of a sudden. It was just because…” the words faded as she suddenly felt herself lose her train of thought. Why _did_ she run off like that? It was so out of character, there had to be an important reason for her to do it. The more she thought about it, though, the more questions came to mind. What was she even doing at the river? Was there a mission she’d gone on outside of the kingdom? She rubbed her eyes, frustrated at how difficult it was becoming to think.

“Princess!” Peppermint Butler called out, holding his arm as he came up to her and examined her to check for bruises. “Thank Glob you’re alright. You _are_ alright, aren’t you? No injuries anywhere?”

She shook her head, smiling reassuringly, “No, I’m alright. Just freezing is all.”

Jake raised his arm proudly, “I can fix that!” and even as he stood on the ground, he immediately stretched out into a large, fur-covered blanket. He wrapped himself around Bubblegum and asked, “That feel any better, Princess?”

“Immensely, thank you, Jake.” She felt a sense of familiarity, but pushed it aside. She imagined she had to have looked a little funny as she stood there, strands of light pink hair slip out of the dog-blanket that Jake had formed around her, her gown coming out the bottom, and now, she knew she’d look even funnier as she turned to three of the Banana Guards who had run from their designated posts to check on all of them.

“We’re all fine, but I want guards sent to all the Candy People, make sure everyone got home safely.” They bowed their head to her and went off to do as they were told.

The princess turned back to the tree where she was staring off right before the crash, but the little girl she was watching had disappeared.

_I hope she got away from the Ice King alright._

Meanwhile, Bubblegum turned to Finn and sighed, a resigned smile on her face as she said “Alright. Who wants cake?”

***

_“Well, don’t encourage him,” Marceline told Bubblegum as she sat crisscrossed on the counter while her girlfriend prepared food for their afternoon picnic._

_She giggled, “Marcy, the kid’s, like, twelve. I didn’t_ encourage _him.”_

_She had just finished telling her of her adventure with Finn the Human and Jake the Dog, the adventure her vampire had definitely not been spying on as she followed her the day before._

_Marceline wasn’t concerned about this boy liking Bubblegum; she wasn’t so silly as to be jealous of a child, but the idea of someone, anyone blushing at her girlfriend other than her made her feel irritable. Couldn’t he get a girlfriend his own age?_

_She folded her arms behind her head, “Hey, I’m just looking out for you. From what you told me, this human obviously likes you.”_

_“So, what if he did? What do you want me to do about it?”_

_Oh, she understood now. Bubblegum had already figured out he liked her, probably from the first minute they met. Marceline smirked slightly at the side of her mouth. Of course her girlfriend would put the piece together so quickly._

_“I don’t know, tell him you have a girlfriend, you’re royalty, or, hey, tell him you’re not into blondes.”_

_“Oh, come on, I think that’s putting it a little –”she stopped and turned to her, a knowing look on her face. “How’d you know he was blonde?”_

_Marceline opened her mouth and closed it again. Bubblegum looked like she was trying to hold back a laugh before she turned her back to her girlfriend who quickly shook her head and waved it off._

_“He just sounded like it, who cares? My point is, the sooner he knows it’s never going to happen, the better.”_

_Bubblegum sighed, the smile never leaving her face, “Okay, okay, if it bothers you so much, I’ll take care of it.”_

Marceline walked in through her front door, not feeling the urge to float as her legs felt unusually heavy. As soon as she closed the door, she stopped, and her jaw clenched.

She couldn’t remember why she had decided to go to the coronation, but there she had been standing, behind that large tree that was close enough for her to see Bubblegum clearly, nut far enough so that she wouldn’t be able to notice her.

There was a faint moment where she believed she saw the princess stare at her, and that split second where she gripped onto the tree trunk, her sharp nails sinking into the hard wood as she imagined the possibilities of what could happen next, but then there was that explosion, and Simon – Ice King’s attack.

She should’ve stepped forward and done something, she should’ve saved her, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t protect the girl she loves, and she didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t bear to hit Simon, or because she was worried that any memories would hit Bubblegum too fast and affect her badly.

She could never forget that look on the princess’s face when that human kid, Finn appeared. She looked like her prayers had just been answered, and the one she’d been waiting for was standing before her eyes.

Marceline remembered three or four days earlier when Bubblegum had looked at _her_ like that, when she’d come running out of the forest just so she could see her. How had they gone from _that_ , from never leaving each other’s side for a minute to… _this_? For Glob’s sake, they had just been sitting together a few nights ago! How had things broken apart in a blink’s eye?

She walked into her room and flopped down on the bed, only realizing after losing breath from having her face buried in her sheets that she hadn’t stepped into her room since Bubblegum left. So, when she raised her head to be greeted by a black sweater with pink stripes folded in the nightstand behind what looked like a candy lamp, her shoulders sagged.

 

_“What is that?” Marceline asked Bubblegum as she saw her trying on a black winter shirt._

_“It’s a sweater,” she said. “What does it look like?”_

_The vampire flew forward and checked the fabric, raising an eyebrow, “Nothing_ you’d _ever wear. I thought you said you hated black. What had you called it? ‘Distasteful’?”_

_She blushed and looked away, “It just needed a delicate touch, that’s all.” She led her hands along the stripes and the little bow tie sown right over her heart. “See how the colors correlate?”_

_Marceline brought her head over Bubblegum’s shoulder as she checked the shirt, a slightly smile revealing itself at the corner of her lips. “Hmm, not bad Bonnibel.”_

_The princess patted down the sweater, turning over in to see how well the fabric stays down in the mirror, and she giggled._

_“It’s nice, isn’t it?”_

_“What is?”_

_“You know,” she turned her head to face Marceline, smiling, their heads extremely close together, and the vampire blushed at the sudden lack of distance, “how well pink and black go together.”_

Marceline pushed herself off the bed and left the room, slamming the door behind her. She couldn’t stand being in there anymore with everything of Bubblegum’s staring at her, and she decided to take action. The longer she sat at home, whining about her situation, the less likely it would be that bubblegum would remember her, and she hadn’t forgotten the look on the princess’s face at the coronation, when their eyes had connected; she had remembered something. Maybe Peppermint Butler was wrong, maybe there was a safe way for Bubblegum to remember her.

To force the memories back all at once would be torture, but if they just got the chance to meet, they may come back smoothly all on their own. Marceline couldn’t be sure of many things, but she knew that Bubblegum loved her, and that kind of love didn’t just fade away. She had to still have felt something.

Marceline grabbed her red ax bass and slung it over her shoulder, knowing what she was going to do. If Finn and Jake were Bubblegum’s friends, then they were the first step.

_First thing’s first; find out where they live._

 

“What?” Finn said, her eyebrow raised after Marceline told them that they should leave.

“Look,” she said, revealing an ‘M’ carved into the tree that their house is based around. “’M’ for Marceline.”

“Aw, man,” the dog said, a look of surprise and disappointment on his face.

“I carved this in this tree years ago,” she lied. “Way before you two rascals started squatting here.” She grabbed led them near the door as she said, “But seriously guys, thanks for keeping the place warm for me, I mean really great.” With a gently shove, she pushed them out of the fort. “Good night!”

She shut the door and sighed. If they were anything like she imagined, they’d be back for their home, and if they didn’t, she’d follow them wherever they went and take over that place, too. Whatever it took, she wouldn’t leave these guys alone.

A few nights later, they got the chance to move into another home, but Marceline just went there, too.

“Hey, Finn.”

“She’s back!”

“What do you want Marceline?!”

“Oh, I just want to show you somethin’. This cave belongs to me!”

“What?!” Finn’s jaw dropped.

“Thanks for fixing the place up for me.”

“Y-You can’t take our home twice!”

A few minutes later, the entire thing turned into a battle Marceline had been already expecting. No, _waiting_ for, but Finn and Jake’s fighting surprised her. The two were a lot more hardcore than they looked, way more than Bubblegum was. Whenever she wanted to have a grudge match with her, she would always turn her chin away.

_“Marceline, that’s too distasteful.”_

Plus, there was always a fear of hurting her too badly, but with the boys, she had a chance to do whatever she wanted. A little extra bruising or scratches was part of learning. At least, that’s what the vampire told herself to wipe her conscience clean.

At one point though, things had gotten a little too rough, and she decided to call it a day. She gave the guys their props, and once asked if that meant that they could have their tree house back, she nodded.

“As a gift from me,” she said, and made a face that terrified them enough to send them running out, screaming.

Marceline chuckled to herself as she thought about what she had just done. She was starting to see why Bubblegum grew so attached to them so quickly, and with that in mind, she thought about the next visit she’d be paying them the next day.

“Finn!” Jake said with wide, scared eyes as soon as he saw her float up the stairs from the opening in the ground. “That vampire’s back!”

He ran out of the way as Finn pulled out his sword and directed it straight her face as soon as she came up.

He stood straight, but the fear in his eyes gave him away. “You’re not taking our house again, Marceline! I won’t let you!”

She shrugged as she brought her guitar forward, laying back in the air as if she was resting on a couch. “I gave you the place back, didn’t I?”

Finn’s eyebrows knit, and she could tell his hold on the sword’s hilt loosen. “Yeah?”

“So, why would I come back just to take it again? It’s illogical.”

“Hey,” he said, a small smile breaking through the serious exterior as he lowered his sword slightly, “you talk just like Princess Bubblegum.”

Her fingers froze for a split second on the guitar, but she kept her careless expression, hoping neither of them had noticed. She had gotten so used to keeping up with Bubblegum’s reasoning that she didn’t even notice the new habit she’d picked up. She had to remember who she was talking to.

“A girl can’t get bored?” she eyed the strings on her guitar intently, making sure her mind focused on nothing but the chords. “From what I saw yesterday, you guys are pretty cool. I was hoping we could hang.”

“Doing what?” Jake asked, obviously worried that the answer would be killing some innocent tiny creatures.

She shrugged, “I don’t know. I flew all the way here, you want me to think something up for the day, too? Do I have to do everything?”

Finn’s eyes widened with opportunity as he turned to Jake, his sword completely lowered, “Dude, she’s a vampire! She probably knows millions of land all over Ooo that we’ve never seen before. There could be hundreds of people that need help!”

“Yeah,” Jake said, his eyes still narrowed at Marceline, “people that could need help from _her_.”

“Well, I do know that some small, innocent Rock People are going to be sacrificed in the Flame Kingdom today,” she said, her eyes still on her instrument, though she could tell she had gained both of their undivided attention, “but hey, I get it; it’s scary stuff, and you’re just a couple of kids, so –”

“- We’ll go!” Finn said right away, a look of determination on his face as he pocketed the sword in his backpack. “I’m old enough to handle it.”

Marceline smirked at his excitement, though she had a feeling his desire to prove that he was old enough for something other than this adventure.

They were only two feet out the front door when Jake pointed his finger at her accusingly as she floated ahead of them, “How do we know you’re not leading us to a bunch of your vampire buddies right now?!”

“I don’t have any vampire buddies.”

“Well… your other buddies then!”

“Nope, none of those, either.”

“What?” Finn said, and she stopped and turned to him. “Hold the pickle. You don’t have any buddies?”

Marceline tilted her head, “I did. Now I don’t.”

He ran to catch up with her a she floated, Jake on his back. “Why not? Is it because you turned into a vampire?”

She sighed, “Would you knock it off with the vampire stuff? Not everyone’s as much of a wuss as you two!” She turned away and continued floating, “It’s not so dramatic. They just turned out to be a bunch of lobos. They kept making fun of someone I cared about, so I stopped talking to them.”

Finn looked upset at the news, holding his fists up, “Oh, man, what butt chickens!”

“What about this person you cared about?” Jake asked, seeming to forget his fears for a moment. “Is he still your buddy?”

“ _She_ was a lot more than a buddy.”

“Oh,” Jake said, then his eyes widened and he blushed. “ _Oh_.”

“Why are you so surprised? Is it that weird?”

He shook his head, “It’s not that. It’s just… you, like, left your friends for her. That’s, like, so nice.”

She shrugged, “It was actually really selfish; if she had found out, she would’ve blamed herself. But I couldn’t handle it anymore, the way they talked about her falling like it was the greatest thing in the world. It was either leave, or kill them all, and she would’ve hated that more.”

Jake raised an eyebrow at her as if everything she was saying, everything that showed the kind of person she was was defying what he believed a vampire should be like.

Fin noticed the looks between them, and he glanced between Marceline and Jake. “What? I don’t get it, man.”

“I’ll tell you later,” he whispered loud enough that Marceline could hear, then he turned his attention back to her. “What about the girl?”

“What about her?”

Jake stared for a moment as if she was supposed to understand what he was trying to say on her own, then he edged forward on Finn’s shoulder. “Are you two, you know, still together?”

That question hung as she tried her best not to let the answer show on her face. The truth was she didn’t really know; the answer had to have been yes because technically speaking, if Bubblegum was in her right mind, they’d still be together. It’s not like it was her choice to be abducted.

“Master Finn!” they suddenly heard behind them, and the three stopped in their tracks. “Master Jake!” It was one of Bubblegum’s Banana Guards. He stopped in front of them and leaned forward on his knees, panting. “Thank Glob I could get to you before you left.”

“What is it?” Finn jumped forward, and though Marceline couldn’t ask, she was silently thankful the boy did. “Is PB okay?”

“I’m afraid not, sir,” he regained breath and stood, “She’s being held hostage by Ricardio! We can’t get to her, so you’re our only hope!”

“Ricardio?!” his eyes lit up with rage. “I knew he was bad news! The guy’s flippin’ crazy!”

Marceline’s fists clenched at the name. She remembered him from the stories Bubblegum would tell her, though even she shuttered when she talked about him.

_“No, I want you to know everything.”_

The visual disgust was obvious on her girlfriend’s face when she’d tell her of how he used to be, and the monster he’d turned out to be. Marceline imagined how upset Bubblegum was nervous, even though she usually tended not to fear almost anything, but the idea that she was being held against her will somewhere in the castle by some obsessed freak, it was enough to make her fly to the castle and kill him without a second’s hesitation.

“I’m going with you guys,” Marceline said, surprising Finn and Jake.

She thought they’d shake their heads, insist that it was too dangerous, or worry that she couldn’t be trusted to follow such an important case, but they nodded once, sensing the urgency of the situation. This wasn’t just some tiny monster the princess could handle by herself, or one that would be as easy to defeat with a single punch as Ice King. This was someone who dared to call himself an intellectual equal with Princess Bubblegum herself; the guy was clever.

_But not as clever as my Bonnibel, that’s for sure._

They all ran to the castle, aside from Marceline who flew ahead. If it wasn’t for Jake’s sudden long legs carrying the other two so quickly, the vampire probably would’ve gotten there before them, especially at the speed she was going in.

As soon as they were close enough o the pink walls, they took no time in heading straight for the window. It was blocked off, a loud bellow of laughter coming from inside, and they were all sure it didn’t belong to Bubblegum.

“Stop squirming, Princess,” the muffled voice said. “I won’t let you suffer; I promise you, it’ll be quick.”

Bubblegum screamed, and Marceline’s heart leapt.

_Bonnie._

Finn had only begun to raise his sword to slash at the red wall blocking their path, but she couldn’t wait a single second longer. She lifted her arm, turning it into that of a large wolf’s, and she slashed at the wall, furious. She hit it with so much force that it shattered apart with one blow, and the others quickly recovered from their shock before they all jumped through the frame and landed in Bubblegum’s room.

They were shocked to find her tied up with rope against a chair from her neck to her ankles. Ricardio, the revolting heart with hands and feet turned to them, his eyes surprised to see them get passed his defenses. Marceline glanced at the broken bottles in his hands, and her body shook. What had he been planning to do?!

“How did you get in?!”

“Let PB go, you sick organ!”

His eyes narrowed, “How dare you, you flying monkey?! I am your superior; you should be bowing before me!”

Princess Bubblegum looked strangled as she muttered Finn’s name, though her eyes never left Marceline’s. The vampire’s view turned red, and she could feel her nails grow longer, as well as her fangs.

Without a word, she lunged at Ricardio, her claws extended, and though he managed to dodge her hit, she didn’t turn back to him. Instead, she headed straight for Bubblegum’s ties, and that was when it hit him; she wasn’t aiming for him.

He tried to pull his broke bottles at her, but before he could even turn around, he was slashed with Finn’s sword.

Marceline focused on the ropes as the others kept Ricardio busy. It only took a few seconds for her to cut through every rope, but as soon as she did, she unconsciously brought her hand up to Bubblegum’s face.

The princess stared at her with curious, pink eyes, not believing what she had just seen.

“I-I know you,” she breathed out with difficulty.

Marceline looked surprised, her heart skipping a beat as she held her girlfriend’s face in her hands. She nodded eagerly.

“Yeah, you do. You know me.”

“Y-You’re…” she slowly pulled Marceline’s hands down with hers, “You’re that-that girl that came into my room. You’re that one that lost her friend.”

Her heart fell. “Lost her friend… right.”

She floated back, her hands on the princess’s arms to help keep her steady as they heard Ricardio’s muffled voices, the Banana Guard covering his mouth as he tied his hands behind his head.

Jake punched him one more time, “And that’s for being creepy!”

They all then turned to Bubblegum, waiting for her decision on what to do. Marceline was about to give them a look, and say that she had just been saved from being killed, they should’ve given her a minute, but she just straightened her back, the expression on her face firm.

“Hold him down in the dungeons until preparations for banishment are made.”

“Banishment?!” he tried to say from behind the guard’s hand.

Bubblegum then did something Marceline almost forgot she could do. She released herself from the vampire’s grasp, stepped forward until her face was inches away from his, and even she had to admit, her princess looked scary.

“You want to try execution instead?” she said, her voice low. “Because that’s fine by me.”

Marceline noticed the heart take a step back with fear clear across his face. With a nod from the princess, the guard led Ricardio out of the room until she spoke up.

“Banana Guard.”

“Yes, Princess?”

“Make sure everything’s done _today_. I don’t want him in my kingdom for the night, not even in the dungeons.”

“Yes, Princess.”

He continued dragging him out, and as soon as the bedroom door had closed, Bubblegum’s shoulders sagged.

“Oh my Glob,” she said. “That was close.”

“You’re okay now, PB,” Finn reassured her, and as the princess turned to face him, the girls’ eyes met.

She smiled, “Thanks to you, Finn, and of course, Jake.” She faced Marceline and nodded to her, “And I couldn’t forget the help of your friend here.”

_Your friend here._

She came forward and hugged Finn and Jake, a small giggle in her throat, and Marceline felt another nail to her heart. When she stood in front of the vampire, she just outstretched her hand.

“Tell me your name, Madam, so that I may address you formally.”

She stared at the hand in front of her, and carefully took it as if she was worried Bubblegum would break at the contact.

She stared her straight in the eyes as if hoping to send across a secret message that only her girlfriend would understand.

“Marceline. My name’s Marceline.”

“The Vampire Queen,” Finn generously added. “We met her a few days ago, she’s pretty awesome.”

“Marceline,” Bubblegum nodded, and the vampire hadn’t noticed how much she missed hearing the princess say her name until she did.

But that feeling only lasted a second, and before she knew it, Bubblegum handshake turned slow as she stared at Marceline, her eyes starting to narrow.

“Marceline,” she repeated and shook her head, confused. “That – I-I think –”

Marceline’s heart skipped a beat as she noticed the look on Bubblegum’s face; she was starting to remember her. Soon enough though, that skip in her chest turned to two, but not of joy, of _fear_.

Bubblegum blinked several times. “M-Marc – Marceline. I- where have I-”

“Bonnie?”

“I-I can’t r-r-remember.”

“What’s happening to her?!” Finn asked somewhere in the background.

Bubblegum’s hand left Marceline’s and went up to her head as her eyes shut tight, and everyone was starting to tell that she was in pain.

Marceline tried stepping forward and grabbing her shoulders to calm her down, but before she could get a hold on her, the princess bent down to the ground, suddenly screaming in agony as she held her head.

“Bonnibel!” the vampire dropped down to her, panic rising in her chest. The same kind she had that day she knew that her girlfriend was going to be taken away from her. “Bonnie, I’m sorry. Stop thinking about it, I’m sorry!”

She screamed out again, and Marceline’s hands shivered as she noticed a tear of pain run down across the bridge of Bubblegum’s nose.

Out of nowhere, Marceline was shoved away from the princess by Peppermint Butler who was called in by Finn.

She couldn’t take her eyes off Bubblegum as her butler gently shook her shoulders.

“Princess! Princess Bubblegum!” he tried, but as she kept suffering, he turned to Marceline violently and gestured her towards the window. “Get out!! The longer you stay, the more pain she’ll be in! Get out!!”

“What’s happening?!” Finn’s muffled voice came again, but it disappeared as Marceline’s focus was on Bubblegum, and she knew that as much as it killed her, the worst thing for the princess was for her to stay near her.

Without another word, Marceline stumbled and flew out the window as far away as she could from the castle, and she didn’t stop until the entire kingdom was completely out of sight.

 

_“I’m coming right now.”_

_Twenty-four hours._

_“Take my hand my very slowly.”_

_“We’re in danger.”_

_“What are they…”_

_“Don’t be scared now, Princess.”_

_“I’m going to handle it.”_

_“Marcy.”_

_“Bonnie!”_

“Bonnie!” Marceline sat up on her bed in a cold sweat, instinctively stretching her hand to her side where she knew her girlfriend would be, just like she always was, but her hand only met the empty space that had now turned cold from being left alone for so long.

Her breathing calmed soon enough, but she still felt suffocated, as if there was a very thin layer of air that she had to be careful not to waste, and she laid back against the headboard of her bed for a while, staring at the ceiling silently as she thought about the last nightmare she had like this one, how things had ended differently then, and she imagined that Bubblegum didn’t have any more nightmares now that she wasn’t worrying about the state of the Candy Kingdom without her.

A sudden knock at the door made her jump, and she imagined the only person it could be, so she jumped out of bed and opened to find Peppermint Butler, frustrated.

“How is she?”

“Still sleeping,” he came in, pulling the top of his hood down. “She had been since yesterday afternoon.” The way he said it indicated that he blamed her for what happened.

“I didn’t know that would happen.”

He widened his eyes. “Yes, you did, Miss Marceline! I gave you the warnings, the risks, but you still showed up in front of her anyway.”

“I thought if she remembered on her own, it’d be okay! And she was starting to! Maybe it just came a little too quickly yesterday, but –”

“A little too quickly? You could’ve killed her!”

Marceline stared, then slumped down on the couch, her head in her hands, her voice miserable, “Do you have any idea how it feels to have the one you love more than anything, more than yourself, look right through you like you weren’t even there? It’s _murder_.”

Peppermint Butler knit his eyebrows at her, then sighed, “I am sorry, Miss Marceline. For not believing in you when the princess did. Maybe then, this whole situation could’ve been avoided.”

She stared to the ground and shook her head slowly. No, this was always going to happen because those men wanted it to. Whether or not the rest of the kingdom was on their side or against them didn’t matter. In their eyes, Marceline was always going to be _inappropriate_.

“But it’s happened, and it’s done,” he said, trying to regain strength. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore than you’ve already been hurt, but I feel like these words have to be said, for all of our sakes.” He stared at her straight in the eyes, an apology showing as he said, “Miss Marceline, I’m so sorry, but the fact of the matter is; we need her more than you do.”

***

It had been almost a month since the day she woke up in her bed and discovered via Peppermint Butler that she had passed out again from exhaustion, and her royal duties have gone on as usual. She was able to restore the flow of the kingdom’s natural resources, paperwork kept getting bigger, but still manageable, and with every new day came a new task to teach or inform the Candy People on the lessons she knew.

But there was something about her that she had kept hidden from the others, even Lady Rainicorn who was her best and closest friend. Something bothering her in the very back of her mind, and as time went by, that little question began taking up more space until her mind was filled with wonderings.

That day that she had passed out, she remembered perfectly a while after she woke up, even Finn and Jake’s confirmation helped her verify that her memory was correct; she was shaking hands with that vampire, Marceline before she felt a sudden throbbing pain and fell to the floor.

If her recollections were true, and she knew they were, and if she really had fainted from overworking and exhaustion as her butler and rest of servants said she did, then how come she remembered that day so perfectly, but not what she had been doing before she fell into a coma for almost a month? Why was that day so vague?

_“Where was I when I passed out?” she remembered asking Peppermint Butler two weeks earlier._

_“What?”_

_“You know, where did you find me? What was I doing?”_

_“Oh, Princess, you were where you always were,” he chuckled nervously. “Just, down in your lab with your fancy beakers and bottles.”_

Lie. She had been somewhere outside, remembering the blue sky and clouds above her. That she was sure of, and she almost wished she wasn’t because it only confused her more. Why was Peppermint Butler keeping the truth from her again? There was something else that randomly came to mind at one point during dinner a few nights ago when she was being served a bowl of cherries and ice cream for dessert.

She remembered a picnic basket, something else she was sure of, and if that was true, then that meant she was enjoying her time because she loved picnics. They soothed her immensely from a long day of work. So, why would she pass out from exhaustion at the one moment when she was finally taking a break?

Bubblegum knew after a while that she couldn’t take the amount of questions she was saving up, and since her servants were all so eager to lie to her whenever she brought it up, she decided to look into the truth behind her long absence in secret, but there was someone she wanted to tell. Someone she’d need the help of, and without them, things would be significantly more difficult. She needed someone who she only hoped she could trust.

“Hey, PB,” she heard Finn say as he and his dog came up to the castle where she had just finished giving a tour to a class of Candy Children, explaining the history behind the Candy Kingdom.

“Hello, Finn. Thanks for coming so quickly, guys.”

“You got it, Princess. What do you need?”

She led them into the castle as she explained her situation. “Well, you see, I’m looking for a place outside the Candy Kingdom.”

Once they were inside, in private quarters that even Peppermint Butler wasn’t allowed into, she told them everything. She said how she’d been asleep for a month due to overworking, how nothing about that explanation made sense to her, she gave them her proof, her reasoning, her own theories on what might have happened, though she really didn’t have any, and when she was done, they were left with their mouths open.

“This is totally crazy pants, man!” Finn said, astounded. “So, the entire kingdom’s hiding something from you?”

She nodded, upset. She couldn’t believe her own creations would continue trying to deceive her, but she didn’t want to jump to conclusions. She still didn’t have a handle on the situation yet. They had to have had a good reason; maybe they were threatened, but even that scenario didn’t make her feel any better. It meant that they didn’t believe their princess could protect them.

“Hold the cereal,” Jake said, his eyes narrowed as he held his fingers to his chin, thinking. “You were supposed to be in a coma two months ago?” She nodded, but he shook his head. “No, Princess, that can’t be right. We met you about a month ago, not any longer than that.”

“What?”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right, Jake.”

“Wait,” she held up her hands, “you met me when I was supposedly asleep in my room? Are you sure?”

“Definitely,” Jake said. “It wasn’t that long ago, princess. Plus, Finn has been talking about how cute you look when you’re wet ever since, so I’m certain about the timing.”

Finn’s face flushed, “Jake!!”

“Was it that short a while ago? How could I forget?” she mumbled.

“PB, don’t you remember how we met?” Finn looked almost hurt that she would forget something so important.

“I remember... meeting you in front of a river, but I don’t remember what I was doing, or why I was there, or half of our conversation.”

“Holy Mangas,” his eyes went wide. “It’s like your memory was erased.”

Her narrowed eyes suddenly went wide, and she felt a million heavy bricks hit her chest. It _was_ like her memory was erased. With that mental note, she sent Finn and Jake out on their secret job to find a large field in middle of a forest outside the Candy Kingdom while she went to go have a talk with her butler.

“You want to see _w-what_ , Princess?”

“The memory loss potion I had to use on the Earl of Lemongrab. It _is_ in the secret safe where I left it, isn’t it, Peppermint Butler?”

He twiddled his fingers as he chuckled nervously, “Of course it is, Your Highness, but what do you need it for?”

She crossed her arms and shrugged, “I visited my dear lemon creation yesterday, and, call it cautiousness, I’d like to make sure there’s enough potion left in case he starts to remember anything concerning the Candy Life Formula.”

He waved dismissively, “No need to concern yourself with that, Princess, I made an inventory check two days ago, and I think there’s plenty for any mishaps concerning the Earl.”

She nodded, “Hmm. Well, _I_ think that’s _my_ judgement to make, don’t you?”

His face fell and with a gulp that Bubblegum almost missed, he nodded. “Yes, Princess.”

She smiled cutely and gestured to one of the pink doors inside the castle. “After you.”

He nodded, a little more confidently. “Yes, Princess.”

With a slow first step, he led the way, but just as she took a step to follow him, she suddenly felt her throat swell, her heart get heavy, and her eyes sting. Before she knew it, she felt big tears slide down her face, and she felt it again; that deep sense of sorrow she couldn’t explain, a sense that had been gradually becoming more frequent in the past few weeks.

She wiped at her eyes furiously, and for a moment, it seemed as if the tears would never stop, but just as her butler turned, they finally disappeared, and she could feel herself breathe again.

He either noticed something was wrong, or pretended not to, but whatever the reason, she was happy he didn’t ask her about something she couldn’t explain herself.

That was something else she’d have to look into.

They went on down to Bubblegum’s lab, and she opened the door using her own private key. The only room she alone had access to, and stood aside for her butler to go in ahead of her.

They both headed straight for the purple safe in the back, covered in icing-white chains and purple locks. Peppermint Butler stopped and turned his head to her, as if asking if she would rather reconsider and go back upstairs, but she just nudged her head at the safe to edge him on.

She handed him her key and he slowly pressed it into the lock. With a loud click, echoing throughout the entire lab, the door opened, and to Bubblegum’s shock, the vial was there, completely filled.

That had been her best lead, and now, even that had turned out to be wrong. The only theory she’d had was thrown out. Now what was she going to do?

Peppermint moved to stand in front of her, obviously eager to close the door. “Is that all then, Princess?”

She turned away, not wanting to face her own failed idea and she felt her grip tighten. She was missing something.

“It is for now.”

It wasn’t until two days later that she got word from Finn and Jake, despite having tried to get to them before, but it was only until now that they had completed their secret mission, and came to tell her that they had finally found the place she had sent them out for which was a huge relief because, for a while, she thought she had imagined it.

But there it was; an entire field hidden in a forest. It was just as the princess had suspected it would be; the perfect place for a picnic. Lady had flown her all the way beside Finn and Jake until they got there, faking an intention to do research outside the kingdom to get away from her butler’s watch.

“I can’t believe this,” she said. Lady said something to her, an eyebrow raised, and she rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know I did, but I can’t believe that it actually exists. Glob, it’s really here.”

“This is the last place you remember, right, Princess?” Finn asked as he scoped the area, not knowing what he’s supposed to be looking for.

She nodded, “Alright Jake. I need you now. Use that super strong nose of yours to find anything that can be used in a picnic.”

Lady Rainicorn added something over her shoulder, and she clapped her hands together. “Of course! That, too! Good job, Lady, I don’t know how I missed that.”

Jake saluted, “Got it! Picnic and scent, coming right up!”

He set his nose to the grass, and began sniffing. Bubblegum held her hands to her chest, worried that if Jake couldn’t find anything, her only other lead would be gone, and she’d have nothing to work with.

“Don’t worry, PB,” Finn said with pride. “Jake’s the best there is. If there’s anything here, you better believe he’ll find it.”

She nodded thankfully. “Thank you, Finn. I’m so glad I have you.”

He blushed and kicked at a pebble, his eyes on the ground, and at that moment, Bubblegum had another voice speak up in the back of her mind, something about a crush, and Finn, and being careful, but before she could read too much into it, something in the corner caught her eye.

Against a large, unusually snow-white rock, there was a flower shining in the sunlight which she found interesting. She walked over to the plant, the beating in her heart getting stronger with every step.

This was something important, she thought as she knelt down beside the unusual flour. She noticed the way its crystal petals were held up so easily by the thin stem. It was remarkable to her how it wasn’t being weighed down.

She looked around, searching for a path that might lead to its source.

_“How do you know it’s not from here?”_

“What?” Bubblegum turned to find who had asked, eager to answer, but when she looked over her shoulder, Jake was still sniffing around, Finn was standing in fighting position with his sword in case anyone decided to jump at them, and Lady was watching her.

She blinked at Bubblegum and asked her a question, but Bubblegum didn’t know what to say. She was sure she heard someone talk to her just now about the flower.

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t say anything.” And apparently, neither did anyone else.

“Princess!” Jake called them over from the middle of the field, and they all came running. He stood from his position, his brows knit.

“Did you find something, Jake?”

“I guess so, but I don’t really know what to make of it. I got your scent, Princess, but that wasn’t the only thing I got.”  He spread his arms in a circle around where they were standing. “This entire ground smells like candy, bubblegum, and… death.”

“ _Death_? Are you sure?” He nodded as he rubbed the back of his neck, and Bubblegum could tell something else was bothering him. “What is it?”

He seemed hesitant to speak. “PB, I think I might know who this scent belongs to.”

***

Marceline sat back against the tree beside her home, her eyes closed as the words of Peppermint Butler rang in her ears.

_We need her more than you do._

What did they know? All the princess ever did, all she ever _does_ in the kingdom is work. At least with her, she had the chance to be a normal kid for once in her life, have fun, stop worrying about everyone and just focus on herself.

Marceline almost laughed bitterly at the thought.

That wasn’t true, and they couldn’t kid themselves about it anymore. The reality was, even with Marceline, all she ever did was worry about everyone else. How would they survive, how would they eat, what would they drink, is everyone making it through candy flu season, is Crunchy still climbing on strangers’ laps?

Marceline still remembered the way she pulled herself together so quickly, pushing her own pain and racing heart aside to make her judgment on that creep, Ricardio.

Just because she wasn’t wearing the crown didn’t mean she wasn’t the princess anymore. It was in her blood, and no vampire could’ve pulled her off of sheer instinct. Marceline folded her arms behind her head against the tree trunk.

This was probably for the best. The Candy Kingdom needed their princess, and the more she thought about, the more she realized how tiring it was to spend every minute of every day, worried that her girlfriend would break up with her because of someone or something that brought the kingdom back to her doorstep. She was tired of looking after her, of making sure she didn’t worry about her precious people, of being cautious that her feelings didn’t get hurt when one of her jokes went a little too far.

In fact, it was kind of a relief being away from her.

The sudden sound of a child’s laugh interrupted her thoughts and Marceline opened her eyes. She didn’t know when it happened, but the sky had somehow turned brighter. She squinted as it hit her eyes, but only for a moment. It didn’t hurt like the sun normally did.

There were two small figures in the distance that caught her attention, and at first, she thought she it was a few more House People, but soon realized that it was two young girls that looked a lot like her and Bubblegum when they were kids.

No, actually it _was_ them!

Princess Bubblegum, with her short pink hair was riding on Marceline’s back.

 _“This is absurd,”_ young Bubblegum said, a blush on her cheeks, _“it’s just a small sprain, Marcy. I can still walk, you know.”_

 _“Nu-uh,”_ Marceline’s cheeks were blushing too as her short black hair kept coming into her eyes, _“My friend told me that any injury has to be dealt with immediately, or else it’ll be a huge problem later.”_

_“Is this the same friend who fought monsters to get you warm soup when you were sick? Because I still haven’t made his acquaintance.”_

She giggled, a sad tone to her voice, _“You will soon, and when you do, we can all have dinner together. He’s just away at the moment, but he’ll be back soon. Let’s just worry about_ your _problem, okay?”_

She lightly hit her fists on Marceline’s shoulders, frowning. _“I don’t have any problems, so stop saying that.”_

_“So what if you did? You’re not invincible, you know.”_

She seemed to have been surprised by the news, as if no one had ever bothered mentioning it to her, and she lowered her head into Marceline’s shoulder.

_“But I have to be. I’m the princess; I can’t have any problems; don’t you understand that?”_

The young Marceline smiled to herself. _“Yeah, I get it, Bonnibel, but don’t be scared, I’ve got you. You’ll never get hurt again, not under my watch.”_

“Marcy!” the vampire heard someone call her, and her eyes were pulled away from the kids to find Bubblegum running up to her excitedly, but something about her seemed different.

She was dressed in one of her baby pink, handmade dresses, but she was still wearing her crown as she came up barefoot to her.

She tilted her head and smiled, “What are you doing? Come on!”

Grabbed her wrist and pulled her up along with her as she led her away from the tree.

“I found the source of that flower! It’s actually not far from here. Marcy, it’s amazing! You won’t believe it!”

She led her into what looked like a dim cave from the outside, nothing but black rock, but when they stepped inside enough that the light didn’t shine through, the view left her breathless.

Scaling up and down the wall was what seemed like hundreds of those crystal flowers, and having them up against the pitch black like that made it look like shining stars in the sky right in their faces.

Marceline stood there, silent as Bubblegum focused on the flowers, still talking about growth patterns and mutations. For a short while, she watched the crystals, but soon afterwards, she found herself staring at her girlfriend.

“Maybe all I need is a sample or two for proper results, but a few would probably be more efficient,” she said as she gently fingered the petals, then she looked back at Marceline. “Hey, Marcy, you think anyone else knows about this place?”

All of a sudden, as the princess spoke, Marceline felt her vision blur and tears rolled down her cheeks, one by one, though Bubblegum didn’t seem to notice.

“I checked the entrance on the way in, it didn’t seem to be tampered with, so it doesn’t look like any giants were in.”

She didn’t bother drying them as they kept falling.

“No trails or feces indicating there might not be any smaller creatures that live here. Plus the environment doesn’t seem suitable enough.” She turned back to Marceline, her eyes lit up. “Marcy, this could be _our_ secret place.”

Marceline felt herself getting closer to the ground as she lost the strength to stand.

“Let’s come back here together again, okay?”

But before Marceline’s eyes shut, Bubblegum disappeared, and she was in the cave alone, sobbing into her lap.

Who was _she_ kidding? She didn’t care how much fear she had when the princess was with her, she didn’t care about the lessons she constantly got about having to be politer and less inconsiderate, she didn’t mind waking up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. It was all worth it if she was able to ease Bubblegum’s heart again.

Because she used to be able to be the one to do that; make the princess feel better. And as usual, she had to do what she could to help her stay better.

Marceline let herself cry there in the crystal cave, for with what she was about to do, she earned it.

She didn’t leave the cave until it was dark out, and despite not feeling much need to sleep, being what she was, she felt uncharacteristically tired. As soon as she reached the house, she imagined falling into bed, and trying to forget everything that had happened, but when she got to her door, she found someone waiting for her.

Her heart jumped, exhaustion forgotten as Bubblegum turned and noticed her come up.

“Hi,” she said. “Marceline, right?”

Marceline wordlessly nodded as she eyed Bubblegum from head to toe. She had her baby pink hair clipped up, and she was wearing a light blue hoodie with purple jeans. She didn’t look like the touched up girl who was crowned so many weeks ago.

The princess was playing with her fingers. She was nervous, but about what?

“Um, I know this is very unusual, but I’ve been having an issue lately, and it seems _you’re_ the only one who can clear things up for me.”

“You’re not wearing your crown,” she noticed.

“Huh?” her hand went to her head, and she smiled, embarrassed. “Yeah, I-I don’t wear it all the time. Besides, I’m not really here as a princess.”

Marceline still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She wanted to pull her into a hug to prove she was there, just like she used to do, but she refrained.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and floated to her door, mumbling, “You’re always here as a princess.”

“What?”

“I asked you what you wanted.”

“Oh,” she avoided her gaze again. “Well, Marceline, the truth is, there’s no way to ease into this, so I’m just going to be blunt.” Marceline nodded for her to continue, and she took a deep breath and lifted her head, looking the vampire directly in the eyes. “Did we know each other a few months ago?”

Marceline’s heart skipped a beat, and she thought she had heard wrong.

“What?”

“This may sound crazy, but I feel as if the entire kingdom – scratch that – the entire _Land of Ooo_ all know something I don’t, and for some reason, they keep hiding it from me. Right now, it’s a little hard to know who to trust, and I’m not really sure of anything, which is – it’s new for me. But one thing I _am_ sure of is that you and I were on a picnic before my supposed coma, and so I’m thinking you know what really happened.”

“Princess –”

“At least, I’m hoping you do.” She lightly chuckled to herself and rubbed her face which Marceline knew was a defense she used to keep herself from crying. “Glob, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Please. If you can’t help me, I don’t know what else to do. So please, don’t hide anything from me, and don’t lie to me.”

Marceline stared. She knew what to do.

“Princess, you’re right. We _were_ on a picnic.” Bubblegum looked relieved, like she knew that the vampire would have her answers. “At least, _you_ were.”

Her smile faltered. “What do you mean?”

“That field, that I bet you already know about, that’s usually where I go to play music, but that time, when I got there, you were already sitting with your picnic basket.” She emotionally cringed at how well she was able to lie to her girlfriend. “You didn’t look like you were having a picnic, though. I think you were talking about a flower or something, researching its source, its petals, something like that.

“I came over to ask if it was okay to play while you studied, but as soon as I came up to you, you fainted. You looked exhausted, too. I just figured you were sick from working too hard or something, Guess I was right.”

Bubblegum thought about it a moment and shook her head, “But Finn and Jake said –”

“Those two dorks?” she laughed. “Yeah, I gave ‘em a good scare about two months ago. Didn’t think they’d pass out, though. That was my bad.”

“They must’ve been out for days,” she muttered to herself.

Marceline shrugged as Bubblegum sighed, her expression screaming with defeat.

“Hey,” she said, “you don’t have to beat yourself up about this, PB. You work a lot, something like this was bound to happen. You just need some rest to put it all behind you, that’s all.”

Bubblegum nodded, her eyes glassier than Marceline knew them to be, and she held her hands up at her.

“Whoa, don’t cry.”

She had to have just noticed she was crying because she turned her back to Marceline and wiped at her eyes.

“This is good news, isn’t it? It means nobody was lying to you.”

She nodded. “I realize that. Thank you for your help. And I’m very sorry to have b-” she tried turning back to face her, but every time she wiped her tears dry, more would appear, and she figured it was better for to keep anyone from seeing them.

That reminded Marceline of something Bubblegum had once told her about her life in the kingdom; she never cried, at least not to anyone. The only person that she’d ever allowed to see her tears was Marceline. Aside from her, she’d hide herself in a small room and cry to herself – sometimes for hours because her people couldn’t see that she was upset or exhausted.

 

_As a princess, I had to grow up very quickly, and to many people, that meant crying was a child’s act. I made it through then, but I have to admit Marceline, I’m glad I get to cry to someone. What a perfect gift you’ve given me._

 

Marceline stretched her hand out to her, but immediately pulled it back.

_You have to do it. You have to do it. You have to do it._

If she didn’t keep reminding herself of the look on the princess’s face when she was screaming with pain on the floor of her bedroom, she’d cave and tell Bubblegum the truth about everything.

“Goodnight then,” she said, her back still turned to her, and without another word, she walked away.

Marceline stood there until the princess was completely out of sight, and she walked into her house. As soon as the door closed, she felt her entire body give out, and she fell against the door. She had driven her fangs so deep into her skin that her palm was bleeding down her wrist.

She hit her head against the wood as she shut her eyes, her jaw tightened as she felt the metallic taste of her own blood cover the inside of her mouth, and no matter how hard she pressed against her ears, the sound of Bubblegum crying never went away.

_You had to do it._

***

Princess Bubblegum was still wiping at her eyes on the castle roof when Finn and Jake climbed up to meet her, at her request.

She rubbed her sleeve against her face, hoping to not look as upset as she was, but having her most cherished friends so close to her brought her heart a kind of ease she hadn’t been able to feel in a long time.

“Hey, PB,” Finn said.

“Hey, guys.” She sniffed. “Thanks for coming. I’m sorry, I know it’s late.”

“No worries. We’d come –” he began to say but stopped as he sat next to the princess and took a look at her face. “Princess, are you crying?”

She reached up to her face and felt the wet tears roaming down her cheeks, and she bit back a curse. She hadn’t even noticed that time, and she was so careful to make sure no one noticed her doing it.

She wiped again with her sleeve, but they still wouldn’t stop.

“Whoa, PB,” Jake said, concerned. “You okay?”

“I uh,” she should’ve nodded and said she was fine. She should’ve said that it was an experiment she tried on herself using a crying formula. She knew she should’ve straightened her shoulders and sucked it up, but she didn’t want to, and it wasn’t like those times when she’d confess to herself that things were hard, and then remember that being a princess meant having responsibility and being a grown up.

This time, she really, _really_ didn’t want to.

“What did Marceline say when you talked to her?”

She sniffed and wiped at another tear, waving dismissively with her free hand. She didn’t know what she expected, talking to a vampire, and it wasn’t as if she suspected there to be some big scandal behind the mystery of her absence from the throne, but the answer Marceline had given her was far less satisfying than she imagined it was.

She didn’t understand it, as she had stopped understanding many things lately, but she expected something more out of Marceline. For some reason, her heart jumped every time the vampire was brought up, as if it called out to her. As if it remembered something her mind didn’t.

If Bubblegum was being honest, she was happy to find out that Marceline was there with her on that field, and she thought, for a second, that the two were connected to each other somehow, but as Bubblegum thought about it, the more ridiculous she felt.

Vampire aside, Marceline was a _girl_. She was crazy to think that there was anything that connected them other than a stroke of bad luck. When she first met her, she passed out from being overworked, the second time, she was being held hostage by a loony bin, and a few hours ago, she was having her hopes shattered apart.

“Finn, my noble hero,” she managed to say as she felt a sob build in her throat. “Forgive me, but I have another secret mission for you.”

She was so sad. She didn’t know why, but her chest felt so heavy, and as a scientist, she knew there could only be one way to clear the weight.

He put his hand on her shoulder, suddenly angry. “You got it, Peebles, whatever you want. You just tell me who’s making you so upset and I’ll go smash their faces in!”

To his surprise, she suddenly came forward and hugged him to the best of her ability considering the positions they were in. She imagined his face was red as Jake no doubted stepped back awkwardly to give them their space, but – as selfish as it may have sounded – she didn’t care, not with the pressure she felt pulling at her mind and heart.

She buried his face in his shoulder and said, her voice shaking, “Just this once, let me cry to you. Please. Just this once.”

He didn’t answer, but after a short while, she felt two warm hands on her back, and she couldn’t hold it in anymore. The sobs came out, and the princess cried into the boy’s shoulder.

After every cry, she thought it would lessen or stop, she thought she’d regain her senses and pull herself together, but the tears kept coming out, her voice muffled by Finn’s shirt.

Whether it was confusion, frustration, anger, pain, disappointment, or plain sorrow, she didn’t know, but almost immediately, she felt herself begin to sound like a child, crying desperately alone.

All Princess Bubblegum remembered from that night was that she cried. Not when she stopped, not how Finn and Jake reacted to her sudden hysteria, not even whether or not Peppermint Butler had heard her and noticed something was wrong. She just remembered crying her heart out, something she hadn’t done in far too long.

The night was never mentioned between the three, Bubblegum could’ve believed that she had dreamt the whole thing.

After the incident, things went back to normal in the kingdom. At least, that’s how Bubblegum tried to make things look. She still had flashbacks hit her, none of them clear, but unlike before, she stopped trying to look into what any of them meant.

The misery she felt when the truth turned out to be disappointing was still there. It never went away, and when night would come, it would be there, forcing her to cry into her pillow to stay quiet from the ears outside. It’d remind her of how she felt standing at that vampire’s doorstep, as if it was warning her to mind her backtracking, or else it would grow again.

She even made sure to stay away from Marceline. Whenever there came news that there was kingdom business that needed to be done near her home, Bubblegum uncharacteristically turned to mind other kingdom affairs, choosing to send out servants to do the job instead of her.

Not that the vampire ever came back. From what Finn and Jake had decided to share with on their own accord, they don’t see her unless they go to visit her themselves, and even then, she’s cautious of letting them in. Maybe Bubblegum was wrong to consider her anything other than what she was; a vampire who liked to play games. Maybe there really _wasn’t_ anything hidden beneath the veneer, and she was just looking for something that was never there to begin with.

Not having the urge to be above ground more than she needed to be, Bubblegum spent every second she could, buried in books in her lab. She only came out to eat when she was too hungry too focus, which meant she was hardly eating once a day. Other than that, she put all of her energy and concentration into her formulas and inventions.

She pulled the pencil she had held behind her ear as she eyed the flying candy cane, and she nodded to herself.

“Flying Candy Ornament prototype number three-seventy-two seems to be making progress after a few short hours. Test subject should be complete in approximately one week. Christmas Preparation Status: Likely.”

She tucked it back after taking notes, pulling back the few loose strands of pink hair she had falling on her face.

There was the sudden faint sound of a single, laughing voice, and her attention was diverted away, but as she looked around, she saw no one there. She glanced at her lab once more before shutting her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose beneath her glasses. It was happening again, and she still didn’t know what to make of it, not that she tried to.

The strange voices and images were becoming much more frequent, coming to her nearly every hour instead of once or twice every couple of days or weeks, and she had given up her suspicions. She was too tired to think about something that didn’t exist, tired of feeling like she was going crazy.

She sighed as she leaned forward on the desk and began reciting the periodic table to herself as a means of getting her mind onto something less confusing.\

 _This was nothing more than an illusion_ , she reminded herself. _A big brain must be put to good use, and not silly ghost hunts. Snap out of it._

With a count to ten, and a nod to herself, she backed up off the metallic table and blinked as if trying to remember where she was.

Then, it hit her like a brick, and her formal composure was gone.

 

 _Young Bubblegum sat in a tree, holding on desperately to a branch as several, deformed Candy Wolves bared their teeth at her. However, their faces were anything but dog-like. For heads, they carried the horrific features of a piranha, their wild eyes staring at the princess as if they hadn’t eaten since birth, and she was their first meal. If they didn’t seem ready to tear her to shreds, she would’ve found it funny that they really_ hadn’t _eaten since birth, or, at least, since their creation._

_“I order you to stand down!” she pointed her finger and commanded, but they only went silent for a second before they were clawing at the tree again, and the princess’s shoulders sagged. She figured that wouldn’t work._

_Her legs were starting to cramp up, and she knew she couldn’t stay on that branch forever, but she had no idea how long the Candy Wolvanhas – that was the name she’d single-handedly decided on – would stay there beneath her._

_A wave of fear rushed over her as she realized that no one knew where she was, or what she had done, so having a rescue party come for her seemed very unlikely. The circle of dark trees surrounding them left little hope for anyone to find her, even if she screamed loud enough for all of Ooo to hear._

_All of a sudden, there was another sound of a creature screeching, and Bubblegum froze in her tree. She was sure the circle of Wolvanhas surrounding her were the only ones in existence. Were there other monsters that wanted of piece of her for dinner as well?_

_Before she knew it, a figure came from an opening in the woods, and out a came a small figure, no bigger than Bubblegum. She couldn’t make out a face at the height she was at, but the figure zoomed in to the beasts surrounding the tree, seeming to be unafraid of them. With a single swish, it glided past every wolvanha, and the monsters suddenly fell to their sides, dead._

_Bubblegum couldn’t begin to register what she was seeing, even her sharp eyes couldn’t catch up to the figure’s quick movements. She leaned too close forward as she tried to get a better look, but she almost fell off trying to do so, and so she took hold of the bark, waiting for the attacker on the ground to reach up to her._

_It never did, and she slowly opened her eyes, shocked to find no one standing on the grass but a little girl with short-cropped black hair staring at her. She had something in her arms, a toy, and for a while, Bubblegum wondered where she’d seen it before._

_The mysterious girl spoke. “You can come down now. It’s safe.”_

_Bubblegum tilted her head and looked around until finally, she said, “Spread your arms out to me, please.”_

_The girl looked confused at the request, but she did as she was asked. She put her doll down by the tree and spread her arms out towards the princess._

_Bubblegum slowly edged forward, and just as she held her arms out, she fell into the other girl, the two landing on top of each other at the foot of the large trunk._

_They looked up from their positions and their faces immediately flushed, the princess getting up to her feet and dusting down her dress as the black-haired retook possession of her doll._

_Bubblegum cleared her throat. “Thank you for your assistance, but let it be known that I had the situation completely under –” she noticed the girl’s toy, and her eyes widened as she recognized it. She stared back at the girl’s face and pointed accusingly. “You! You’re that girl, from that time! You’re the one that helped me save Lady Rainicorn!”_

_She shrugged with one shoulder. “Yeah, I guess.”_

_It had been almost two years since that day, and Bubblegum was ashamed to say that she nearly forgot about their mysterious savior._

_“Thank you very much for that. I consider you saved_ me _that day as well,” she said, her eyes lit. “It looks like you saved me again. Come to think of it, you seem to be the only one to save me when I need you.”_

_A blush hinted her cheeks as she hugged her doll closer to her chest, embarrassed. “You don’t have to say that, you know.”_

_“Actually, I do. It’s in my nature as a princess,” she said, looking around at the Candy Wolvanhas, unable to hide the disappointment in her face as her eyes ran over their dead bodies. “What a pity. One experiment I should’ve kept a better eye on, obviously.” She sighed. “Never mind; a lesson for next time, I suppose.”_

_The girl looked at Bubblegum as if she was speaking a foreign language that she needed a moment to understand. “Princess?” she said. “Experiments?” She looked around at the beasts, and her eyes widened with realization. “Wait, hold up, are you saying you_ made _these things?”_

 _She frowned. “I prefer the term_ created _. Making something is about character, personality, mind, and emotion. My creations have the will to make themselves, at least, all the ones I’ve made so far are.”_

_The girl raised an eyebrow, “And why would you make monsters like these?”_

_“Dogfish,” she said simply._

_“Dogfish?”_

_“Yeah, I needed proper guards for my kingdom, but these creatures had no sense of duty or loyalty. They operated on pure instinct.”_

_“Dogfish,” she repeated._

_Bubblegum nodded, and jumped as the girl suddenly gasped, her eyes on Bubblegum’s arm._

_“Your arm!”_

_The princess looked down at her skin and found a scratch beginning to swell. She had forgotten that she was injured when the wolvanha experiment started to go haywire. The adrenaline of being about to be eaten alive must’ve taken her mind off of it, but even as she stood now, it didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would._

_Before she could even tell the girl that it wasn’t as bad as it looked, she ripped a sleeve of her dress and came to wrap it around Bubblegum’s injury._

_She felt her heart skip a beat as she watched the girl focus on her cut, and she averted her eyes. “Where did you learn to do that?”_

_“I had an older friend who used to take care of me like this, and I picked it up.”_

_Hmm. The technique was interesting to Bubblegum. She thought about how many of her Candy People might someday need this kind of help, despite her best efforts to avoid any injuries from happening, and she decided on memorizing it in case the need ever arose._

_“Since I saved your life and all, can I ask you a question?”_

_“I still feel like I had the situation under control before you got here,” she said defensively. “But sure. You could’ve asked either way.”_

_She ignored her comment. “You said you were a princess. What’s your name?”_

_“Bonnibel Bubblegum.”_

_Her hands stopped on the fabric a moment as she glanced up at her. “_ You’re _Princess Bubblegum?”_

_The princess looked at her. Had she bene known to Ooo already at such a young age? But known as what? For all she knew, she could’ve been a joke to the people; the first child to ever become the creator and ruler of a land. She knew the Candy Kingdom was gaining popularity on the outside, but this girl seemed like she was far outside of the normal territory._

_The girl turned her gaze away almost immediately, but Bubblegum never moved her eyes._

_“Alright then,” she said. “What’s_ your _name?”_

The flashback stopped, and Bubblegum opened her eyes to find herself crouching on her lab floor, her hands on her head and tears in her eyes from the pain. Her breaths came out hard and difficult, and she could feel the room spin as she tried to stand up.

That hit was a lot stronger than the pain she’d get at the back of her head when short images or voices suddenly came to mind. A loud part of her tried pushing the scene aside as she slowly came to her feet, a voice that told her things would be better off if she ignored everything, but just as she turned, her breathing finally starting to even out again, she froze.

There she was, standing by the dark purple safe in the corner of the lab was that little, black-haired girl from her dreams. She still had that old doll clutched close to her arms as she stared at Bubblegum silently, her face unreadable.

The princess remained silent a moment longer, then, “Who are you? Why are you messing with my head?”

She didn’t answer, and Bubblegum felt her grip tighten. She was sick of this silence, the same she got from everyone else.

“Either tell me,” her voice pleading. “Or leave me alone.”

A short pause later, the girl turned her head to the corner of the room, and Bubblegum’s gaze followed hers to the safe.

Her eyebrows knit. “The memory loss potion?” She shook her head. “No, I already checked that.”

The girl said nothing, and once again turned her head to the safe.

Bubblegum realized that was the only answer she was going to get, and she sighed with defeat as she pulled out her only key out of her lab coat pocket. She stood in front of the safe, and the lock clicked, allowing her to open its heavy door.

She shrugged when she saw the vial and she turned to the girl who was still staring at her. She gestured to the bottle for the child to see.

“I told you, it was already checked.” The girl didn’t move her gaze from Bubblegum’s face, and she ducked her head. “Why do you keep looking at me like that? The vial is full, so –”

But she stopped herself before the sentence left her lips. What was she about to say?

_The vial was still full._

“Wait a minute,” she said, pulling out the vial to examine. She turned to the girl, a look of realization on her face. “This is still full! But I’ve used some of it before on the Earl of Lemongrab, so it should be a third empty!”

She brought the vial closer to her eyes, and then opened it to take quick whiff, careful that he didn’t inhale too much of it, but her as she smelled the contents, her eyes narrowed. “No way…”

She stuck her finger in and slowly brought the liquid up to her tongue. As soon as she tasted it, her eyes went wide. “This isn’t my potion! This is my latest bubblegum syrup recipe!”

The princess shook her head as she looked back to the girl who had suddenly vanished. She looked around the lab, but saw no other trace of the child.

It didn’t matter. She’d given her what she needed, and with the knowledge that no one in the Candy Kingdom will tell her the truth, and the question left in her mind of what happened to the actual memory loss potion, the princess had one plan in mind, and it was a long shot.

Ever since she’d woken from her ‘coma,’ Bubblegum noticed one place in the entire kingdom she had been too scared to go into; her closet. For some reason, she never made it past the handles. After that, her heart would feel as if it was about to stop, her bones would shake, and she’d never get the chance to get anything out. So far, she’d tell her maidens what she wanted to wear, and they’d fish it out for her.

This time, she’d open it herself. She no longer had any ideas of where to start looking, so she’d go to the one place she knew would – if nothing else – open her mind, whether for the better or for the worse.

There she stood in front of the pink wood, her fingers trembling lightly as she stared at the closet, her mind running with thoughts she couldn’t control or keep quiet long enough to take the first step forward.

And yet, that was what she did. Everything else, everybody outside suddenly went silent as she reached her hands to the golden door handles. Her fingers tightened around them as she felt a sudden jolt of electricity shoot through her body. She couldn’t identify it, and couldn’t tell if it was bad or good. She felt her heart rate slow down as it had before, she no matter how tired she became, she didn’t let go, not even as her head slumped forward and her breathing became hard.

_No._

She held her head up, her eyes glued to the closet doors.

_You’re all I have left._

With great resolve, she pulled at them until she saw them separating from each other.

_I need you to open!_

With a shot of wind across her face, the closet was open and she was left standing in front of piles and piles of light-colored clothes. She felt a slight chill hit her as the doors opened fully, but as she stood there, staring at the hanged dresses, shirts, and sweaters, the excitement in her chest faded, and her shoulder sagged.

Was that it? All that build up for something so trivial? She didn’t understand; why had it been so hard for her top open her closet if…

But her train of thought left her as her eyes picked up the only non- baby-colored piece of clothing. Her hand hesitantly reached for the black shirt tucked underneath a large pile, and she gently pulled it out, careful that nothing else falls out of place.

Her fingers tingled as she held it, and once she spread it open, her eyes stared at the picture. It was punk rock shirt.

She hated it, but the tears that she had managed to keep under control until night reappeared. Her fingers shook against the fabric, and as her chest became heavy again, her eyes suddenly filled with tears.

_Why did she even have this?_

She held the shirt to her face, breathing in its scent as it also dried her tears.

_It didn’t look like something she would ever wear._

She crouched down as her sobs came out, muffled by the fabric.

 _She didn’t even_ like _punk music._

But even as she sat there, her biggest question was the same she had months ago.

_Why couldn’t she stop crying?_

To her surprise, the tears didn’t last as long as she expected them to. She managed to calm down a lot sooner than she had the night before when she sobbed for over an hour, scratching her throat in the process.

But she didn’t move from her position. She stayed kneeled down, breathing in the shirt until she could feel her entire face stiffen from the now dry tears. She finally stood, her hand on the lowest closet shelf as she used it to pull herself up.

Silently, she stared at the shirt a moment longer, and then folded it neatly, just as it was. She pulled the other clothes up gently and patted the shirt down as she put it back in its place, but before she could lower the rest of the pile, something barely came into the corner of her eye.

She knit her brows and lowered her gaze to see it more clearly; it was a picture of her and someone taped to the inside of the closet. She reached for it and pulled it out, careful not to tear at the edges as the Polaroid looked like it had been there for a while.

Bubblegum held it up, and her face fell. She recognized the person with her immediately, and her grip tightened on the picture, and her jaw clenched.

_She knew it._

***

Marceline left the house every chance she got.

She had made the mistake of trying to toss out all of Bubblegum’s things _way_ before she was ready, and now she couldn’t stand the idea of facing that stuff, as if it were the princess herself and it was blaming her for what she did.

But Marceline only wanted to move on and get over her, she shouldn’t have to feel guilty about it, but she did. Simply _trying_ to turn things back to the way they were before Bubblegum had moved in was too much for her to handle. There were so many times when Marceline couldn’t even remember what it was like before Bubblegum had lived it with her. What was she doing the entire time? How was she having any fun? Did she ever used to smile? She couldn’t recall.

She couldn’t even sleep in her own room anymore, sometimes, not even the couch was good enough. She’d more often than not end up in trees or fields, but there were the very few occasions when she’d wake up and find herself on her living room floor, just as she did when she opened her eyes to the sound of a fast, non-stop knocking.

She grudgingly got up and stretched, tiredly floated to the door, and opened it to find Bubblegum knocking into the air.

The princess stopped and stared at her, anger in her eyes that Marceline couldn’t miss, and before she could ask any questions, the princess held up a picture of the two of them, side by side.

“We _did_ know each other.” She tossed the picture at her feet. “You lied to me.”

She bent down and lightly touched the picture, then looked back up at her. “Bonnie –”

“And you keep calling me that,” she said, annoyed. “Stop calling me that.” Marceline stood, and she noticed the princess’s eyes turn glassy, her body shuddering as she struggled not to cry in front of her.

“I stood here, and I asked you not to hide anything or lie to me, and that’s exactly what you did.” She tried to continue, but nothing came out, and screamed through her teeth. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say now, I thought about it the entire way here, but I can’t – I-I don’t –” She stomped once and pointed her finger at Marceline. "You people erased my memory, didn’t you? I know about that!”

She shook her head, “No, _I_ didn’t erase anything, Bonnibel.”

“You didn’t tell the truth either! I may not remember everything yet, but I will – without your help.”

“You can’t,” she said. “Bonnibel, you’re going to get yourself killed if you do that. You had to have noticed, right? Every time you remember something, you get hurt.”

Bubblegum’s eyes widened. “Oh my Glob… how much have you known?” Marceline looked surprised. “What right do you think you have to make that kind of decision for me?” She shook her head. “You know what? I don’t care what that stupid picture says; we are _not_ friends. You want to know why, Marceline?” a sob escaped her lips. “You didn’t help me.”

Bubblegum turned around and left, not knowing if she could stay strong with the look the vampire was giving her.

She was done wondering who she’d be able to trust. This time, she was going to get answers the same way she should’ve from the beginning, and she had the proof she needed that would forbid anyone from trying to talk her into any more stories.

That night, the princess summoned Peppermint Butler to have dessert with her, and she had added her own special ingredient.

“I must say, Princess, I didn’t expect this invitation today. Forgive me, I’m a little underdressed,” he said, giddy as he adjusted his seating.

Bubblegum smiled. “You look amazing, my dear friend. This is just as a thank you for putting up with my strange behavior since waking up from my coma. Please,” she gestured at the banana split, “dig in.”

He nodded eagerly and dug his spoon into the dessert and brought it up to his lips. As soon as his mouth closed, he made a sound of pure joy, and looked at the princess with wide eyes.

“Your Majesty, this is incredible!” he held up a spoonful and sniffed at it. “Is this that new Bubblegum Candy Recipe you were once working on?”

He took another bite, and as she stared, at him intently, a tight smile came to her lips and she nodded. “Mmhmm. I found the formula and figured I’d perfect it. Is it really okay?”

Another bite and another as he nodded, his smile widening. “Magnificent! I could have an entire bottle of this all in its own!”

She shrugged. “That might be a tad difficult,” her smile faded as she held up the empty vial. “Seeing as I used up the last storage of it I had left on your dessert there.”

As soon as his eyes landed on the vial in her hands, his face fell and the spoon dropped to the plate with a loud _clunk_ that echoed throughout the dining hall. He couldn’t forget the vial that was supposed to be holding the supposed memory loss potion, stowed away in Bubblegum’s private safe.

He looked down at his ice cream and his eyes widened with realization.

“Oh Glob.”

She nodded, her gaze fixed on him. “Yeah. It doesn’t feel too good when _you’re_ the one being tricked into something, is it?”

“Princess Bubblegum –”

She held up her hand, an anger in her eyes that her butler had never seen before. “I’d be very careful with my next words if I were you. I’ve had enough lies and trickery. Enough is enough, and now, all I want to hear from you – if you can manage it – is the truth.” He opened his mouth, but she interrupted. “And don’t even think about making something up again. I know my memory’s gone, I know Marceline and I were close, and I know that everyone in the kingdom was warned to keep it a secret from me, so don’t try anything. That’s my warning, do you understand?”

He hesitated severely, and Bubblegum noticed the discomfort in his face as if she was asking the impossible of him, but nonetheless, he nodded. “I understand, Princess. I’ll… tell you everything, but you should know – you and Miss Marceline were much more than _close_.”

And so he did. This time, there were no lies, no cover ups, no nothing. He told her about her relationship with Marceline, the meeting, the ministry’s ultimatum, the princess’s decision to leave – which she refused to believe.

“None of us believed it at first,” he had said with a single shrug. “But that’s what you did.”

Then he explained that she hadn’t been absent from the throne for a month, but instead, she was gone for nine. As he kept talking about the ministry’s plan to wipe her memory of Marceline clean, and their attempt to erase her mind using a special crystal, he could see her eyes water again, and she was making no effort to wipe them dry.

By the time he’d finished the part about her and Marceline out on a picnic, she was bawling like a baby into her fists. The sound of her cries were too much on Peppermint Butler’s heart to handle, and soon enough, even he couldn’t help but step out of his place and put his hand on her shoulders as they shook. Bubblegum didn’t pay attention to how long she wept before she went to sleep because as soon as she was helped up to her bed, she passed out.

But even as she slept, Peppermint Butler stayed at her side, staring at the exhausted figure as the moonlight hit her through her large window, a new resolve in mind.

***

It had officially been two days since Marceline had had any sleep, and after talking with Bubblegum, getting shuteye was the last thing on her mind. She spent the entire morning replaying that scene in her head.

_You didn’t help me._

The words wouldn’t disappear, and so she never felt that what she had to say, to herself or anyone else, would be anything more than an excuse to what she did. What hurt so bad was that, despite the fact that the princess’s broken heart isn’t misplaced, Marceline really did have no other choice.

She freaked out from having heard her _name_ , she could only imagine the damage their entire story could do.

_What right did you have?_

The right of the person that loved her which surely had to have been enough for her to make that decision for her, wasn’t it?

When the sun came up, Marceline wordlessly walked into their room, picked up the cardboard box that was still lying on the ground from when she stormed out days earlier, and as fast as she could, as _cold_ as she could, she roughly pulled out everything _pink_ in the room, everything that Bubblegum ever made, sewed, or designed, and she tossed into the box.

No amount of candy scents and sweet memories could stop her at that point, and as she walked out of the room, she thought she might actually have the strength to get rid of the princess’s things that time, but just as she was a few feet away from the front door, there was a knock, and she froze in place as if she had been waiting for someone to stop her. She set the box on the couch, and floated to the door to open.

As soon as she saw Peppermint Butler’s face, she groaned. “Great, what do you want now?”

“Miss Marceline –”

“I already did everything you wanted!” she threw her hands up, part of her wondering why she was suddenly so upset and angry, and part of her feeling it was past due. “She showed up at my doorstep, _twice_ , and I sent her away! Do you have any idea how hard that was? She even cried, and she _never_ cries, and what’s worse, she wouldn’t show me! She _always_ shows me!”

“But Miss Marceline –”

“I get it, okay? I do! The kingdom needs her, but you know what, I needed her, too, and you took her away from me! The fact that I’m not trying to do the same thing to you right now is just – it’s flippin’ _mind-blowing_ , you know that? You… weird candy cane – _thing_!”

“I told her the truth,” he said quickly in between her rants, and she froze.

“You did what?”

He smirked to himself, guilt clear on his face as he headed to the couch. “You know, she cries every night, thinking no one could hear her, but I always do. It’s hard to ignore the grieving sound of a broken heart.” He nodded, as if to assure himself. “She was suffering, so I took the chance and told her.”

Her shoulders sagged as she processed the news. “So what happens now? To Bonnibel?”

He sighed, “I don’t know. I told her what trying to bring back the memories will do to her, so I think she knows better than to think about the past too much. The rest is up to her.”

Marceline felt her energy drain as she fell down against the couch, staring into space. “She still doesn’t remember me, then. Not really.”

“No, she does. Her heart remembers you anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

He breathed out a light chuckle out his nose as a small smile crept to his face. “I’m a Candy Creation, Miss Marceline. I’ve never been in love, and I don’t know much about it, but I do know my mother.” Marceline tilted her head at the word, and his smile turned embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head. “ _Princess Bubblegum_. Though we rarely use the word, that’s what she is to us, and she means a lot more than that. She’s our creator, a part of her is in all of us, so when she loves, we can feel it. Maybe not directly, but one look at the light in her eyes whenever _your_ name is mentioned, and we feel it. It may be years before your relationship is as it used to be, but if you still love her –”

“Where is she?” she asked with wet eyes, and Peppermint Butler smiled.

 _She woke up before the sun was out and has been in her lab ever since,_ he has said before she went shooting out the front door.

She’d no doubt been using science to forget about everything else outside those walls, and Marceline knew it.

Bubblegum’s lab was supposedly only able to be opened from the inside by the princess herself, or with a single key that she also was the only one to have, but about four to five years ago, Bubblegum admitted to the vampire that there would be times when she’d lose her only key, or when it was evident that she was in her lab too much, so the main gate would be blocked for her own sake.

So, whenever those instances came up, she’d use a secret tunnel she created when she first built the lab, a tunnel no one knew about, and she told Marceline about it for the times when she’d sneak in without Peppermint Butler knowing.

As soon as Marceline got to the castle, she didn’t head through the front gate to take the gate downstairs. Instead, she came in through Bubblegum’s bedroom window and made her way to the large pink bed.

She crouched down and checked the floor beneath it, and as she reached in, she could feel a gust of cold air hit her arm.

_It had to have been the air conditioned lab below._

She crawled underneath, and as she had hoped, Bubblegum hadn’t closed the tunnel down. As soon as she was completely under the bed, the ground beneath her began to slowly lower like a floor board in an attic, making a hissing sound as she was subjected to the cold air of the white-walled room.

When the opening was big enough, she squeezed herself through, floating into the air of the lab where the first thing she saw was Bubblegum leaned back against her own desk, staring with shock at the intruder.

“Marceline? How’d you know about my secret gateway to the lab?”

She floated down closer, her heart skipping beats as she stood in front of her princess. She couldn’t speak as easily as she thought she’d be able to. “ _You_ told me about it, remember?” She slowly shook her head, and Marceline felt herself about to cry, which made no sense to her since there was nothing to be upset about. She floated closer, and Bubblegum looked cautious.

“It was a way to see each other without anyone bothering us, and everyone knows you don’t like having anyone in your lab, so we were able to relax in here.” She shook her head. “Don’t you remember that at all?”

Bubblegum stared, her caution replaced with sympathy and – Marceline couldn’t be sure, but it looked like – guilt?

She turned her back to Marceline, and the vampire knew she was trying to hide her emotions from her again, which hurt more than anything in the world, but she could see the princess’s hands shake as she took hold of her beaker, so she wasn’t fooling anyone, especially not her own girlfriend.

“Some of them aren’t coming back, you know,” she said, unable to hide the shakiness in her voice. “The memories. I spent all night trying to remember, but they… wouldn’t come back.”

Marceline felt a tear slide down her cheek as she shook her head, a small smile on her face. “That’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” her voice softer, “About what I said yesterday, saying that we’re not friends. I realize, given our past… relationship, that must’ve hurt a lot.”

Another tear fell as she landed her feet on the ground and hugged the princess from behind. Bubblegum tensed for a moment at the sudden contact, but Marceline only held on tighter.

“It’s fine.”

She finally relaxed into her arms. “There are a million things we did together, things I told you and things you told me that I’ll probably never remember.”

Her hold strengthened as she shook her head against the younger girl’s tied hair.

“I am sorry, Marceline. I’m sorry.”

Marceline felt a sad laugh about to hit as she raised one hand to stroke the princess’s head.

_It’s okay, Princess. It’s okay._

***

The day that followed was all a bit of blur to Bubblegum. It was just hours and hours of sitting on a stool in the lab, listening to Marceline retell her adventures and things they’d supposedly done, though counting as how she couldn’t remember half of it, it was hard to argue against a few of the things she’d apparently done.

“There’s no way I ever called you my fiery flawless demon,” Bubblegum reiterated.

Marceline shrugged. “Hey, it definitely turned _my_ face red, but you said a lot of weirdo things I couldn’t believe.”

There were the few moments when small memories would slip past her, and before they could escape again, she’d say something like, “Did I ever sing to you?”

The vampire would look at her with lit up eyes which made Bubblegum proud of herself for asking.

“Yeah, once, a long time ago. But yeah.”

It was at night that her mind finally caught up with her, and her memory took a break as she traced Marceline’s face that was lying across of her on the large pink bed. The two girls rested on their side, facing each other because they both agreed that they each had spent enough time out of the other’s sight.

“Have we ever kissed?” Bubblegum suddenly asked, and Marceline’s face flushed.

“W-Why would you ask something like that?!”

“I want to know, come on.”

She looked away and sighed. “Yes, okay? We’ve been dating since you were, like, seventeen, so yeah.”

“How did it happen?”

Marceline groaned and stuffed her face in the pillow, “What is it with you and these questions?”

“You remember what it was like, and I don’t. It’s only fair.”

She peeked at her from the pillow and pushed her face back in. Bubblegum heard a sigh.

“You didn’t start it, if that’s what you mean.” She chuckled to herself. “Of course you wouldn’t have started it.”

“So then, what _did_ happen?”

Marceline tapped her fingers on the mattress a moment before she said, “It really wasn’t that big of a deal. I came down to the lab once to talk about it, but you got all embarrassed and started ignoring me, your face in your precious books and chemicals, as always, and so, I…” She sighed, “I turned your around and kissed your right then.”

Bubblegum’s face turned red and she turned over on her other side, grateful that it was dark enough that Marceline wouldn’t be able to notice her embarrassment.

“Good night.”

“What?” she leaned on her elbow.

“I’m tired.”

“You are not!” Marceline brought herself forward, leaning her chin over Bubblegum’s arm as she tried to look at her face. “You’re embarrassed!” She leaned back, covering her eyes with her arm and groaned, “Oh, I knew this would happen, I just _knew_ it.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Marcy!” she said, burying her head in her pillow.

There was a moment of silence where Bubblegum wondered if the vampire was offended, then, “What did you just call me?”

She turned her head over to her and found her staring at her, a smile in her eyes she hadn’t seen earlier. “What, Marcy? Don’t I always call you that?”

“Not since you lost your memory.”

“Really?” She nodded. “I’m sorry, did it make you uncomfortable?”

Marceline smile widened, and to the princess’s surprise, she came closer and brought her arm around her waist, pulling her against her.

She buried her face in her hair. “No, it made me very happy.”

Bubblegum’s cheeks – if possible – turned redder.

“That’s good.”

The next morning, Marceline woke up feeling like she had slept for a century. It was the first time in a long while that her night wasn’t interrupted by a nightmare or a cry, but as she felt the space next to her was empty, she had a surge of panic. It didn’t last long because as she looked around the room, she found Bubblegum dressed in her usual pink and purple dress, sitting at her desk writing on a piece of parchment.

“Bonnie?”

Bubblegum continued silently writing for a minute more before turning to Marceline, a serious look in her eyes that the vampire couldn’t miss, despite the warm smile on her face.

“You’re up.”

“Yeah, so are you.” She stretched. “How long have you been awake?”

She kept her focus on whatever she was writing as she said, “Oh, a couple of hours, give or take.”

“What? Why so early?” She didn’t answer. “Bonnie, is something bothering you?”

“A lot of things are bothering me,” she admitted as she put her large pink-feathered pen away and held up the scroll to glance over. “But I’m going to handle them right now.”

Her brows knit cautiously as she floated out towards her. “What do you mean?”

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Marceline gasped, but Bubblegum held a hand out as if to say that it was okay.

“Come in.”

With a gentle push of the door, Peppermint Butler walked in and glanced at Marceline, seeming not at all surprised to see her there. He stood straight in front of the princess.

“You summoned, Your Highness?”

“Yes,” she rolled up the scroll and handed the paper to her butler. “Get this to the Candy Parliament straight away. I want it all dealt with today.”

“Yes, Princess.”

As she turned to leave, she stopped him. “Oh, and Peppermint Butler?” He stopped and turned to her, and she wore that scary face she rarely used. “If I so much as _suspect_ that they’re stalling, I will not be as courteous as I am now. Is that clear?”

His head tilted, the slight fear in his eyes evident to the both of them. “Yes, Princess."

As soon as he left, Marceline asked, “Bonnie, what’s going on?”

She smiled at her and stood, holding both of her hands in hers which surprised Marceline, bringing her feet down to the ground.

“I woke up remembering the decision I made before that stupid meeting was ever held, and I realized my mistake. I waited to have everyone’s approval before I did what I wanted when the truth was, there was only one person whose approval really mattered; yours.”

“What are you talking about?”

She took in a deep breath. “There’s going to be a gathering of the entire Candy Kingdom today, and there, I’m going to make a very special announcement.”

Her eyes widened. “Bonnie?”

“They can’t touch either of us if everyone knew about our relationship, no one be able to do a thing, not even the ministry. So Marceline, today, when I tell all my people that I’m… in love with you, will you stand with me?”

Bubblegum had hoped Marceline would hug her and say yes, definitely yes, but as she shook her head, her heart fell.

“It’s illogical,” Marceline said. “You’ve barely regained a third of your memories, and now you say you’re ready to fall back into trouble just to tell people that you’re in love with me. Where’s the reasoning behind that?”

Bubblegum tilted her head. “You don’t usually talk like this, do you?”

“I’ve picked up a thing or two from years of talking to _you_. But seriously Bonnie, what if they tried to take you away again?”

“They won’t,” she assured her, “because this time, I’m expecting them.”

Marceline must’ve seen something in her girlfriend that she thought she’d never see again because she took her hands out of Bubblegum’s hold and put them in hers.

She nodded once, her eyes staring straight into the princess’s. “Fine. But on one condition.”

 

Bubblegum was supposed to go in to check on the grand ceremony preparations an hour ago, but she couldn’t move from her bedroom window. She watched from high above as all her lovely Candy People gathered in, a look of anticipation on their faces as they awaited this mysterious big news their princess had to give.

Her heart still broke a little every time she thought about the past, and how her mind jumped to the worst when she wondered why her people were lying to her. They had been doing it to keep her safe, to keep anything bad from happening to her, to keep her out of harm’s way, and though she never assumed anything too horrible concerning their secrets, she should’ve known that everything they had done, they did it for her own sake.

Bubblegum wondered, had she been put in their position, would she have done the same thing? The princess thought that over for a minute, and shook her head.

She would make sure the need never came up. She’d been too careless as the ruler of this rapidly growing kingdom, letting her concerns about making it safer take over the value she placed on the individuals living _in_ it. She kept thinking about the Candy _Kingdom_ needed, but when was the last time she took a good look at its _people_?

She sighed as she told herself that if the day would go like she wanted it to, she would make more of an effort to get out of her lab and see her beloved creations, ask them how they’re doing, if they’re having trouble with anything, if they’re happy. She personally knows the question is always welcomed by the heart, if not by the mind.

“PB!” Finn said as he and Jake walked in, Marceline behind them with her hands in her pockets.

“Finn!” she greeted back, the same excitement in her voice. “Jake, thank you guys for coming.” She put her hands on Finn’s shoulders, noticing his red face right away. “I know you guys don’t live in the Candy Kingdom, but I hope you know you’re as much a part of my heart as my Candy People are.”

He scratched the back of his head. “Aw, shucks, Bubblegum. You know we’re happy to be there for you.”

“Tell ‘em the news already!” Marceline said, her annoyed frown more than obvious in the back.

“Yeah,” Finn said. “That’s right, the big announcement. Can you tell what it is, PB?”

“Marceline,” the princess said through grit teeth.

She shrugged. “He’s literally _asking_ for it. I told you not to encourage him.”

“You need to relax. You know what? Go, just – go suck the red out of one of my dresses or something, just – go.”

The vampire glanced a moment between Finn and Bubblegum as if she was worried he would carry her off right then and the two would elope. If the princess hadn’t been so anxious about the gathering, she would’ve giggled at how cute her girlfriend was.

Marceline huffed once and floated out, opening the closet and grabbing a red sweater out before leaving, and as soon as she was out, Jake turned to Bubblegum.

“Sheesh, you’d think the girl was in love with you or something,” he chuckled about it, and she held back a laugh.

She took in a sharp breath. “Yeah, about that…”

She told them everything she knew; the ministry, erasing her memory, and her relationship with Marceline (though she did go easy on that part for Finn’s sake). When she was done, the two were left with the jaws hanging, and then Bubblegum noticed the human’s fists shaking.

“That’s disgusting,” she heard him say, and her heart jumped. Did he feel the same as the ministry did?

He held up his fist. “To think, all of this because you fell in love! That’s sick! Who are these ministry dudes anyway? I’ll teach them not to mess with matters of the heart!”

Bubblegum stifled a giggle. “ _Matters of the heart_?”

Jake placed his paw on his friend’s shoulders as the boy huffed. “He’s been watching a lot of those old romance movies to impress you. Guess there’s no point in that now.”

“I’m sorry.”

Finn calmed down and let out a nervous laugh. “Don’t sweat it, PB. She’s a _vampire girl_ , I can’t compete with that.”

“Is that the announcement, though?” Jake asked. “You’re going to tell all your people about you two?”

“It was the plan from the start, and at least this way, the ministry won’t be able to change anything. If we can just get through today safely…”

“Say no more, PB. Jake and I will keep this whole part-ay safe. No one’s laying another hair on your head.”

She smiled. “Thanks, guys. I knew I was right to place my faith in you. But it’s not over yet. I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and it just won’t go away.”

“What can we do to help?”

“Right now, just get Marceline. I need her in here.”

 

The next few hours went by frighteningly smooth, so much so that Bubblegum considered skipping any introductions and just standing in front of the crowd with Marceline, maybe just kiss her or something for them to get the message faster, but she blushed at the thought. That was too distasteful.

_I thought you said hated black. What had you called it? ‘Distasteful’?_

She blinked as that memory ran through her mind, something about a sweater she’d made, but she couldn’t get the entire image to clear up.

“Hey,” she heard Marceline’s soft voice, and she snapped back to the present. She stood floating next to her, her eyes staring at the grand hall that they were meant to be presenting themselves in any moment.

Then her eyes turned to Bubblegum and she blushed. The princess had worn a white gown revealing her shoulders, light gold hanging from the side of her waist to the opposite side of the bottom of the dress, and her hair was hung up, also traced with gold, making the princess look like she was glowing.

Bubblegum glanced down at Marceline’s night-sky blue dress which her servants had all worked to finish within the day, and she looked away immediately before the vampire could see her face turn pinker than it already was.

“You look beautiful,” Marceline said, her eyes on the ground.

Bubblegum nodded. “Yes, I’d say we both look adequately appropriate.”

The vampire stifled a laugh, her gaze returning to the crowd. She sighed. “You ready for this?”

The princess began to nod, but began shaking her head, and Marceline held onto her hand, noticing how quickly it tightened around her own.

“What was it like?”

“What?”

Her eyes ran over the flowing hall of Candy People. “Being my girlfriend; what was it like?”

Marceline tilted her head. “Is that what you’re worried about? That it wasn’t worth it dating you?”

“You sat up with me for hours every night because I woke up panicking about the kingdom, you stopped hanging out with your friends and followed me around every day in secret, you worried about everyone that ever knew I was a princess –”

“How long have you remembered?”

“A couple of hours,” she said, her voice cracking. “So you can’t tell me that it never happened, and you can’t tell me you were happy with it because I know you weren’t.”

“Hey –”

“I know we don’t make any sense, and I never thought about what that did to _you_ , at least, I-I don’t think I ever did.”

Marceline could tell she was about to start crying, and regardless of who could’ve walked in, she turned her towards her and hugged her tightly.

“This is so big, Marcy,” she said. “I don’t want to suck you into another life you don’t want. Not again.”

“Hey,” she said, pulling her back to look her in the eyes, “Don’t _ever_ say my life with you was a life I didn’t want. Bonnie, I couldn’t believe _you’d_ ever like _me_ , and when you did, I told myself I would do whatever it took to keep you with me. Don’t you see?” she cupped her face in her hands, “We _don’t_ make sense. You’re, like, the girliest princess that ever lived, and my flippin’ _toothbrush_ has its own coffin. But it works.” She laughed to herself. “This is what I love about us; _you_ can’t explain our relationship with your science. Get it Bonnie? We work, and it doesn’t make sense, and I _love_ that it doesn’t make sense.”

Bubblegum giggled, her voice easing. “Guitars and crowns, I suppose.”

She nodded. “Guitars and cr-” her voice faded out as she noticed something missing on her girlfriend. “Crowns. Where _is_ your crown?”

The princess knit her brows and reached for her head, then her eyes widened in realization. “Oh, man, I took it off after I sent the dress maidens out. I must have left it on my bed. Hang on, I’ll run back and get it.”

“Wait, can’t you just have someone go get it?”

“There’s no time, everyone’s waiting with the crowd.” She started stepping away. “It’s okay, it’ll only take a second.”

“No, no, no,” Marceline pulled her back. “ _I’ll_ go get it. On your bed, right?”

“Marceline, I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure you will, ‘cause you’re staying right here.” She pecked her forehead and floated off. “Please just stand still for a second. Do what I say, okay? For once?”

Bubblegum sighed, her shoulders sagged. “Alright, just, please hurry back.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Marceline had to have done a poor job at reassuring Bubblegum because two minutes into waiting, the princess began to fiddle with her gloved hands.

_Why had she been taking so long?_

“Gather everyone, please. May I have your attention, please?” Peppermint Butler began the introduction, and Bubblegum’s heart skipped a beat.

_No, they couldn’t start; Marceline wasn’t back yet._

“Ladies and gentlemen, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum and her companion for the evening,” he said and gestured to where she was standing as the crowd silently waited with anticipation, but as soon as he saw her shrug, clueless and alone, his face fell. He turned back to the microphone. “Um, fellow Candy People, please enjoy the festivities as our princess prepares herself.”

He managed to push their attention away, after which he walked up to her behind the curtains as she gestured Finn and Jake to her who were standing in view, obviously curious as to what the holdup was for.

The two came running. “What’s going on?”

“Marceline’s not back yet. She went to get my crown, but she’s taking too long.”

“Maybe she just got lost.”

“That’s not possible,” Peppermint Butler explained. “Miss Marceline knows every path in the castle to the princess’s room _and_ her lab. She would, after years of sneaking in.”

Finn’s brows knit. “I thought she was excited to do this. It’s not possible she ditched, is it?”

Bubblegum shook her head. “No way. She’d never do that to me.”

There it went again; that bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Something’s wrong.” Without another word or explanation, she turned and ran out the grand hall into the large hallway, not bothering to wait for the others to catch up.

She moved so fast that once she reached her room, she was almost slammed into her door frame. She stopped and her eyes went wide with horror as she looked upon her destroyed room. The bed was scratched, her closet was toppled over, and even the walls were covered with what looked like claw marks. The princess barely moved forward, not knowing where to look or what to think, the single thought coming to mind; her crown wasn’t on her bed.

“What the math?” she heard Finn say in barely a whisper behind her, and she turned to see the three standing at the doorway with her exact same expression on their faces.

“Who could’ve done something like this?” Jake asked as he lifted a torn dress and dropped it.

Bubblegum nearly tripped on a pile of empty clothes by her now destroyed closet, and her eye caught a black piece of fabric buried underneath. She slowly pulled out the punk-rock shirt Marceline had once given her.

 

_“But why?” Bubblegum asked when Marceline tossed the shirt in front of her, covering her newly finished dress._

_“What do you mean ‘why’?” she groaned. It was the fifth time her girlfriend had used that sentence. “What a dumb question. I’m giving you, my girlfriend, a gift. What more reasoning do you want?”_

_“I don’t understand that.” She wouldn’t budge. “This whole act of gift giving to people you love; it’s like you put a price on your relationship.”_

_Marceline pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay, I know how you feel about this stuff, but I’m telling you, the shirt is not just any random piece of clothing. I picked out the most_ Marceline-like _shirt I could find because I like seeing you in that stuff.”_

 _Bubblegum tilted her head. “So, me wearing this is really a gift to_ you _.”_

_Her mouth straightened. “Pretty much, and I know you’ll do it, too, because you can’t say no to me, right?”_

_She frowned. “No.”_

_The vampire clapped her hands. “That’s right; no, you can’t.” She exhaled a deep breath, seeming visually relieved. “You know, that didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. I think we’re getting better at this whole_ normal couple _thing.”_

 

The princess’s fists tightened around the shirt as she shook. “They took her.”

Finn shook his head. “They must’ve been in here, waiting for _you_ , but when Marceline walked in, they nabbed her instead.” He hit his fists against the wall. “Ugh, that’s so messed up!!”

“Oh Glob,” Peppermint Butler said, the concern evident on his face.

“What is it?”

“Well, M-Miss Marceline’s not the princess, so if they try to erase her memories like they did Bubblegum, they’re most likely to be a lot less careful of what they take away.”

“No way! You think those ministry guys could erase everything?!”

“It’s certainly a high possibility.”

“This is my fault,” she said, her voice low, but high enough for the three to hear. She turned to reach for her purple sweater and pants off the floor.

“P-Princess, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to bring her back home.”

“What?” Jake came forward. “PB, we know how you feel, but it’s too dangerous. Just let Finn and I take care of it.”

She pulled the dress down after her sweater was on so nothing would show, and lifted her pants up her legs with ease, not bothering to undo her hair.

“Jake, I created an entire kingdom, single handedly escaped the Ice King several times, and my lab is filled with unspeakable creations that would make my own mother cower in fear, and trust me, _that_ is saying something.

“Getting Marceline out of this is _my_ quest, and you’re welcome to join me, but _do not_ tell me to sit behind.”

“But Princess, with all due respect, we don’t even know where they are. They could’ve taken her anywhere.”

The princess shook her head as she rummaged through one of the drawers of her bedside table. She pulled out a hand-held machine of some kind, large enough that she needed two hands to hold it.

“No, not anywhere.” They furrowed their brows at her. “It’s like I told Marceline; I was expecting them.”

***

_She nodded, her eyes staring straight into the princess’s. “Fine. But on one condition.”_

_“Which is?”_

_“You never leave my side. Not once, no matter where you’re going.”_

_“Marcy -”_

_“I’m serious Bonnie. In fact, I’d feel a lot better about it if you wore a tracking device.”_

_“What?”_

_“Something like that one you hid on Finn’s ear when he and Jake went missing; small, so that if anybody tried to take you again, they wouldn’t notice it there.”_

_Bubblegum wanted to argue until she won, Marceline knew she did, but she must’ve noticed the look of fear hidden in the vampire’s face because she just sighed and nodded._

_“Alright. It’s a little strange for me, but if it’ll give you peace, I’ll do it.”_

 

The last thing Marceline remembered was floating into Bubblegum’s room and spotting the golden crown laid on her bed. Just as she touched it, she felt a sheer of pain in the back of her head and her view went dark.

Even now, everything was black, but she could feel herself lying on what felt like a cold, flat rock, something circular and hard, tight in her hand. With the danger the girls had been expecting all day, the vampire could only assume that they were attacked again. As her vision started to clear, she heard whispering voices somewhere in the background and she silently cursed.

The one, single second she hadn’t been paying attention turned out to be the single moment she should’ve been ready to fend off another kidnapping.

Her heart stopped. What about Bonnibel? What had they done to her this time?

She shook her arms and legs, but soon enough realized that she was chained down to the rock, and she was too weak to transform.

“She’s awake,” she heard a familiar male voice say. “Why is she awake?”

She was finally able to open her eyes as someone answered. “She’s part demon, sir. Her body’s more immune than the princess’s.”

She noticed the ceiling made of stone and realized that they had to have been in a cave, though it didn’t look as dirty or as rough as one should. With the several colored wires hanging off the walls, the short, crouched men in white coats standing around Marceline, examining her like she was a science project, and the large crystal machine pointing straight at her, the place looked to the vampire like the horror-movie-version of Bubblegum’s lab.

_Bubblegum._

“Bonnibel,” she muttered weakly under breath. “Bonnibel, where are you?”

“How dare you,” a large man hovered over her, her red eyes examining hers. “How dare you mention the princess’s name, you filthy beast.”

Marceline’s eyes widened. She recognized him as the same man who came to threaten her outside her home before this entire problem ever got started.

She snorted, “Oh, look. It’s the saint. The one who drugged and lied to his own _precious princess_.”

“You left me no choice. I warned you of the consequences.”

“Where is she? What have you done to her?”

He backed away. “Right now, I imagine Princess Bubblegum is having her coronation. We realized our mistake.” He stopped and barely turned his head to her. “It shouldn’t have been the princess who lost her memory, it should’ve been _you_.”

Marceline’s breath hitched in her throat. “W-What?”

“Ironically, the proper way to go about this was to take Bubblegum’s methods of reasoning and logic. If a dog was chasing a mouse, extracting the mouse wouldn’t make any sense. After all,” her gave her a vicious, shark smile, “what good is removing the weak when there’s still the strong to worry about?”

Marceline felt her entire body shake. “Is that what you’re going to do now? Remove my memory?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Look at that; you’re _not_ just some dumb punk rocker. Of course, unlike the princess, your memories carry no use to anyone, so I can assure you, you’ll be in here a lot less than she was.”

Marceline felt her heart race as the scientist pulled at the machine so that it was pointing at her head directly. They weren’t just going to erase her memories of Bubblegum, but of everything since she met her. That was years and years’ worth of information, but even as she thought about it, her eyes filled with tears.

The truth was that there wasn’t much or almost anything important that had happened in her life aside from the time she spent with Bonnibel. She was a vampire queen, but she didn’t have a kingdom she wanted to rule, she never got along with her father, even her friends were nothing but jerks that she couldn’t stand being around. All she had was Bubblegum, and as much as she hated sounding so weak, she was terrified.

Terrified that the next time she looked at the princess’s pretty pink face, she wouldn’t recognize her. She would have no idea who that girl is, and she’d mean nothing to her.

“Set it up at maximum.”

How was it even possible the first time? How was it that someone in Bubblegum’s life, someone so important to her that she was willing to give up everything she had ever created, built, and hoped for… how was it that they erased _that_ _kind_ of a person from her memory?

Marceline gasped as the sharp crystal was staring her down.

No, no, no. They erased her from Bubblegum’s mind, but not her heart. The princess still remembered and felt things she couldn’t explain, and that was what was bound to happen with Marceline, right? Soon, maybe months or years after this, she’d slowly start to remember the girl she loved, and the truth will come out because she knew her princess would never give up on her, and they’ll be together again, and everything will be fine.

“Start,” he gave the command.

And she’d wake up next to her again, and she’d help her fall asleep like she always did, and she’s make her red pancakes in the morning with strawberry syrup, and she’ll kiss her again when she didn’t expect it, and they’d make another decision to announce their relationship to the kingdom, but they’d be even faster with it this time, and she’ll give her another shirt that she’d make a debate about accepting, and they’ll go on adventures and laugh, and they’ll get married at some point, and she’ll beat people up for flirting with her wife, and they’ll keep each other safe.

Marceline heard the sounds of the crystal coming to full power as she shook violently against the chains, tears now running down her cheeks, but to no avail.

And she’ll tell her… she’ll finally tell her the story about the day Marceline decided to ask her out. Just like she wanted.

_“Bubblegum.”_

Just as the light shined at the tip of the crystal, a laser line coming to hit Marceline, there was a sudden flash of a sword and the beam bounced off the steal, and hit the cave wall with a loud _boom_.

Marceline’s eyes widened as she looked up and noticed the blonde-haired boy.

He smiled at her, “Hey, Marceline.”

“F-Finn?”

“And Jake!” the dog chimed in as he grew out his fists to ten times its size and punched a scientist newbie away.

The vampire was stunned but managed to say, “How did you guys find me?”

“ _I’ll_ take the credit for that, thanks,” Princess Bubblegum smiled as she came up behind Finn, and her eyes widened at the object in Marceline’s hand. “Hey, you got my crown.”

“Y-Yeah,” she said, sniffling as she tried to stop her tears from flowing. The only difference now was that she was crying out of pure joy for seeing her princess in front of her. “Sorry, I couldn’t give it to you.”

Finn broke her chains with his sword and nodded to Bubblegum before fighting off another minion.

The princess came forward and rapidly pulled Marceline off the table. She shook her head. “ _I’m_ sorry I didn’t tell you, Marcy. I slipped a tracking device in your burette, just like the one who wanted to me to put on myself. I shouldn’t have let you get so scared.”

“When did you slip it in?”

She looked away shyly, “When you hugged me just before you went back to my room. I kind of… made up the whole sad speech ‘cause I needed to get close to you without having you pay attention to what I was doing.”

Marceline tilted her head, “So, that thing about worrying that you were dragging me into a life I didn’t want, _that_ was _fake_?”

Bubblegum cleared her throat. “Of course. Logically, it wouldn’t make sense for you to go through so much unless you _really wanted_ to be with me, and _I_ wouldn’t have tried to announce it to my people unless I really wanted to be with _you_. People say love’s nothing like science, but I find that untrue. Some parts are exactly the same.”

The vampire fought the urge to laugh. _That_ was the Bubblegum she had known, the one shed fallen in love with. The one that would find any possible chance to bring science into the situation so that she could make sense of what was going on.

She wanted to hug her right then, just squeeze the life out of her, but the situation was much too dire to be emotional. Nonetheless, in the short seconds that Finn and Jake had pushed off the last of the ministry men, she placed the crown on her girlfriend’s head, where she knew it belonged.

Bubblegum touched the gold in surprise and smiled. She held Marceline’s hand, her eyes firm on hers. “Just hang onto me, okay?”

Normally, the vampire would’ve insisted she was fine, but the fatigue over her body was too strong to deny and she nodded, allowing the princess to take her arm over her shoulders.

“Finn, Jake!” she called for them, and with a final shove, they all ran in her direction towards the exit.

Luckily, they didn’t have to stay on foot long because Jake soon crawled below them all and made himself big enough to carry all three on his back as ran out the opening, but not before the girls noticed the crystal firing up.

“What’s happening?!” Finn asked.

Bubblegum narrowed her eyes at the giant machine, and her face fell. “They’ve tried to use the crystal at its maximum power! The potion inside is too unstable for that!”

“So what does that mean?!”

“It’s going to erupt!”

Suddenly, Jake’s leg was got and the four tumbled in the air for a moment. They looked down and found that same ministry member Marceline hated so much trying to pull them deeper into the cave. He didn’t look like he had any intention of getting out, but he was sure trying to keep them all with him and the rest of the ministry.

Jake tugged hard. “Let go of me, you crackpot!”

“I got ya, buddy!” Finn yelled as he held his sword over his head and ran down his leg, his weapon aimed at the blue man.

There was a lot more shaking before Bubblegum finally turned to Marceline, struggling to hold on. “Marcy, go.”

“What?”

“You can transform now, at least enough to make it out of here.”

“Bonnie, you’d be stuck here!”

She shook her head. “We don’t have time for this, you have to leave!”

Marceline stared. “You’re so selfish.” Bubblegum looked surprised, but she continued. “For years, I lived without my friends, without a good night’s sleep, with the constant guilt that I was taking you away from your precious Candy Kingdom, with the fear that someone was going to come along and take you away, and I didn’t care about any of that because I had _you_. And now, after everything I’ve done for you, you’re telling me I have to go out there and live _without you_? What the heck, Bonnie? I thought you were supposed to be smart!”

Bubblegum’s face went soft, “Marcy…”

Marceline weakly stood. “Well forget it, Princess. You’re spending the rest of your life with me whether you want to or not.”

With a struggle, she began transforming, her shape getting bigger until she was a giant wolf demon type creature, easily taller than Jake. The blue man froze at the sight of her and with a growl, she leapt forward and took him in her teeth. With an effort, she tossed him across the large cave as he screamed, horrified. His body fell limp against the wall, and right then, Bubblegum shook Finn and Jake from their shock.

They made their way outside, and Jake yelled a faint _Hold on_ before he stumbled and they all fell outside the cave. Marceline flew out in her form and pushed against a large boulder, shutting the cave shut with the entire ministry stuck inside just as the crystal exploded, shooting her backwards.

She went back to her normal appearance as the princess dragged herself to her.

“Marceline! Are you okay?”

Marceline groaned, forcing herself to turn her head to her girlfriend who was merely inches away. “Come… closer.”

“What is it?” she leaned forward. “Are you hurt somewhere?”

“C-Closer.”

She came closer to the vampire, enough that Marceline could lift her chin and the girls’ lips touched.

Bubblegum gasped and pulled back, her face red.

“Thank Glob,” Marceline smiled with relief as she leaned back on the grass, her eyes closed. “I’ve been dying to do that all day.”

The princess buried her face in her girlfriend’s stomach and covered the back of her head with her hands. She whined, her voice muffled, “Marceline!”

She petted her head with her hand and chuckled painfully. “You wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

Bubblegum fiddled with her fingers, then they heard Finn speak.

“Dude.” He was standing there with Jake, his eyes wide and glued on them, and his cheeks red.

They all seemed to remember the cave just then and turned to look at it. A short pause went by, then Finn asked, “PB, what do you think happened in there?”

Bubblegum glanced at Marceline before standing. She dusted off her clothes and sighed. “It’s hard to say, but even if I wanted to know, it’d be impossible to check now. The aftermath of an explosion is always as bad the explosion itself, so we could get harmed opening that cave.”

“How long will it last?”

“Well, the fact that the base of it was an already highly unstable chemical, and the crystal is rarely used at its maximum, it could be a good couple of decades before it’s safe to go in there.”

“A couple decades?!” Finn asked, his eyes wide. “Man, that’s a long time.”

Bubblegum shrugged. “This is what happens when you mess with things you don’t know. Remember Goliad? Precautions always have to be made, and the ministry was too sure of their success. That was their mistake.”

“Stupid Ministry,” Finn said, and he and Jake began chuckling about it.

“Who’s Goliad?” Marceline asked.

Bubblegum kneeled back down beside her and held onto her hand. “I’ll tell you all about him.”

**SIX MONTHS LATER**

_It wasn’t like I had anything planned. I remember that day, I had woken up earlier than usual, and I didn’t know why at first. All I knew was that I wanted to see you, and I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up properly to do it, so I flew over to the castle, up to your room, and I had initially wanted to sit on the window frame and wait for you to wake up, but you weren’t there. I went to the only other place I knew you’d be so early before the kingdom was up; your lab._

 

The kingdom had taken the news quite happily, to Marceline’s surprise, though she figured they felt their guilt of tearing the two girls apart in the first place disappear by having them announce their relationship. She didn’t really care how they would treat her for the news, but she was glad that there were no ill feelings towards the princess.

She had expected things to change immensely after that day, but not much went differently. She was able to visit Bubblegum in the castle as she used to, though she still preferred to do it secretly, and at night to guarantee the two wouldn’t be disturbed. The princess came over to her house a lot when there were field trips to be made outside the kingdom, and she’d sleep over on the days she’d be able to wake up late the next day.

Everyone in the Candy and the other kingdoms knew Marceline and who she was to the princess, but she was glad that it had no effect on how they treated her. She’d tease them, and they’d chase her off the grounds with threats, just like she wanted.

 

_I floated into the lab, ready with a joke I had thought of the entire way over, but when I got to the large white room, you weren’t working like I thought you’d be. Instead, you were sitting at your desk, in your lab coat, and your back was turned to me, your face buried in your arms. I thought at first that you’d fallen asleep reading your science books, or that you were feeling sick, but when I came down to ask you if you were okay, I found out that you were crying._

_I think that was the first time in my life I’d ever seen you cry._

“Hey, Marceline,” Finn said as he walked back from the castle with Jake at his side.

“What’s up, guys?” she narrowed her eyes at them. “What’re you doing here, blondie? Trying to take my girlfriend again?”

His eyes went wide, his face flushed, “What? Come on, no way!”

Marceline couldn’t hold back her laugh anymore, and she waved it off. “Ah, don’t sweat it, kid. I heard you have a thing with Flame Princess now, anyway. Bonnibel told me all about how you nearly destroyed the world with your little smooch.”

He pouted and looked away, his face even redder. “Well, I fixed it, so it’s done.”

She shrugged. “Whatever,” and pat his hat as she floated passed them. “See you later, Human Boy.”

Marceline floated over to the princess’s window as she thought about Finn and his new girlfriend. Bubblegum had apparently tried to warn him that a kiss between him and Flame Princess would melt the Earth’s core, but they ignored it because they thought she was just being jealous. She scoffed at the idea; as if her Bubblegum would ever be jealous of that kid. Yeah, right. As if. Whatever.

 

_I put my hand on your shoulder, but as soon as I touched you, you straightened your back and began wiping at your face. You really didn’t want me to see your tears, and I have to admit, I kind of killed me._

“Hello, Bonnibel,” she said as soon as she floated into the room, but when she found it empty, she chuckled to herself, shaking her head. “Of course.”

 

_I like to believe that I was the only one you were really comfortable with because after a lot of prodding, you admitted that you were exhausted. You said you couldn’t sleep because you were so concerned with work and that the reason you were crying was because of how tired you were. No matter how hard you tried, the tears wouldn’t stop falling, and it was just one sob after another._

_Seeing you so sad and exhausted broke my heart, and I hugged you as tight as I could. I thought you’d stiffen and push me away, insist you were okay, but when you hugged me back, I felt your heavy heart weighing on me, and I wondered how you were able to stand with so much on your shoulders._

She floated through the secret entrance into the lab, and found her princess working on a blue and bright orange chemical. She came closer and gave her a surprise hug from behind.

“Bonnie!”

Bubblegum yelped and almost dropped her beaker. She gave Marceline a dangerous look and the vampire floated back, her hands up in defense despite the smile she was trying to keep straight.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you’d be holding it.”

“What else would I be doing?” she checked to make sure no drops slipped out. When she was sure the area was safe, she straightened her coat and glanced at Marceline. “You’re here early.”

“Yeah, I decided I’d had enough of my dad for the year, so I left.”

Bubblegum stared and put her beakers down, her attention on the experiment gone. “Are you okay?”

Marceline chuckled. “We’re on totally different territory, Bonnie, remember? What you would call a _family problem_ , I call _Tuesday_.”

Bubblegum smiled at that and nodded. “Well, I’m glad.”

 

_As you were crying in my arms, I was only able to think of one thing, and I did it; I asked you out. The truth was, the only thought running in my head at that moment was how much happier I could’ve made you on our date that afternoon, but then I realized that I’d never actually asked you out. It sounds dumb, but it felt like we’d already been going out so I don’t know why I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest when I told you that you were going to feel a lot better on our date._

_But that’s what happened. Then there were those few seconds of silence when I wished the ground would open and swallow me, then I felt you nod against my chest, and I felt my hold tighten, if that was even possible._

_So, you see, it wasn’t like I thought about the bouquet I’d get you or the big presentation I’d make before I did it, I just wanted you to be happy, so I did the only thing I figured would cheer you up. I know it seems kind of snobby to think that going on a date with me would be enough to clear the darkness in your chest, but it was, and I felt like nothing could hurt or upset me after that because I knew I’d always have you; someone who was happy enough to just be with me._

_So Bonnibel,_ that’s _the story of how I asked you out… S-So stop bringing it up!_

“Hey, are you busy later?” Before she could even answer, Marceline answered. “Yes, I know, you’re always busy, but can you make the time for something?”

The corners of her lips lifted slightly. “Sure, anything you want.”

“Rock Candy Mines,” she said simply. “We’d sneak off there a lot when we were kids. You remember that?”

Bubblegum stared at the beaker a moment, then shook her head, the look on her face suddenly sad. Marceline shot forward and stroked her arms. “Hey, it’s okay! I’m sure you’ll remember someday, okay?”

She glanced at her girlfriend and hesitantly nodded, then her eyes went wide. She gasped. “W-Wait! I-I remember something about handwriting. You made fun of my handwriting in the mines! Right?”

“Yeah! I got you to write on the walls, and your handwriting was so girly and fancy that I never stopped making fun of you for it.” She held her arms behind her head and looked at the ceiling. “Honestly, I think it was because I had such a big crush on you then.”

The two blushed and looked at each other, then immediately looked away, and Bubblegum took hold of the beakers again. “I’m almost done here, then we can go. Is that okay?”

Marceline nodded and crossed her legs on the file drawer. She leaned back against the wall and said, “Sure. I’ll wait.”

And she would. As long as it took.

***

_“I used to have dreams about a little girl with short black hair, and at first, I didn’t know who she was, but the picture’s getting clearer every day, and now, I find myself thankful to have her with me._

_I don’t think she’s waiting for me to notice her anymore. Now that I know she’s there, it feels like we’re both taking steps towards each other, and though hers are a lot faster, I can see myself making it a lot closer than before. I think she believes in me now, believes in my strength. I know because she’s not hiding anymore._

_I’m so happy she came out.”_

THE END


End file.
